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Surname Etymology and Meaning of CAPEL

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Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

An old word signifying a strong horse. "And gave him caples to his carte." Chaucer. Capel, Danish, an oratory, a chapel.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

1. French (Normandy and Picardy): from a dialect variant of Old French chape ‘hooded cloak’, ‘cape’, ‘hat’ (see Cape 2).
2. probably a Castilianized form of Catalan Capell.
3. Dutch: metonymic occupational name from Middle Dutch capeel ‘hood’, ‘headgear’.
4. English: variant of Chappell ‘chapel’, from a Norman form with hard c-, applied as a topographic or occupational name, or as a habitational name for someone from any of several minor places named with this word, such as Capel in Surrey, Capel le Ferne in Kent, or Capel St. Andrew and Capel St. Mary in Suffolk.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)