This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'at the fell,' from residence on or near the fell; 'by frith and fell,' a common phrase in early poetry; a fell was a hill or moor open and unenclosed. Sheep that graze on such scanty pastures are called fell-sheep in Furness. So ramified is the surname Fell in Furness that in the register in the parish church of Ulverston (15421813) there are not less than 2, 500 entries concerning the family or families, the entries concerning John Fell alone numbering over 200. 'Moyses wente up on that felle Fourty dayes there gon dwelle.': Cursor Mundi (Halliwell).

1545. Married — Thomas Fell and Margaret Wright: St. Mary, Ulverston.

1563. Brian Fell, of Pennington, Furness: Lancashire Wills at Richmond.

1565. Christopher Fell, of Ulverston, ibid.

An old surname in Dundee. "The Fells afford an instance of an occupation being hereditary in a family, the earliest recorded of the name i.e. in Dundee being Finlay Fell, butcher, who was admitted burgess on 7th June 1533. The trade descended from father to son for more than a century" (Wedd., p. 115). Robert Fell witnessed an instrument of sasine in 1530 (Bamff, p. 58), Andrew Fell was burgess of Dundee in 1611 (Brechin), Isobel Fell is recorded in Whinkerstaines in 1653 (Lauder), and Ann Fell in Blair Athole in 1781 (Dunkeld). James Fell was mylner at Sandhead Mylne in 1628 (Dumfries). The Dundee surname may be a shortened form of 'fellmonger,' a dealer in hides or skins with the hair or wool on. (2) The place name Fell (from Icel. fell, 'a fell, wild hill') is common in Cumberland, Westmoreland, and Lancashire, where there were Norse settlements. There is also a Fell near Crocketford, Dumfries, and another neer Port William, Wigtownshire.

(Scandinavian) Dweller at a Hill [Old Norse fjall, fell] Moyses went up-on that fell, And fourti dais can [did] ther-on duell,— Cursor Mundi (North, Dialectal c. 1300), 6461-2.

(English, German) Dweller on, or near, the rocky mountain; one who dealt in hides or furs.

"By frith and by fell," a common medievalism; equivalent to the classical "per sylvam, per campum." "Also there is difference between the fryth and the fel; the fels are understood the mountains, vallyes, and pastures, with corn and such like; [open ground] the frythes betoken the springs and coppyses" [woodlands.]-Noble Art of Venerie, quoted by Halliw.

Fierce, violent.

Fel, in the Dutch, signifies fierce, furious, violent; also local, a rocky place, barren and stony hills; any uninclosed place; a moor, a valley. A short time since, a tradesman named James Fell migrated from Ludgate Hill to Fleet—street, and announced the event in the following manner:

"I. Fell, from Ludgate Hill;" under which a wag wrote,

"Oh what a fall was there, my countryman I"—Lower.

Not found before 1750, is possibly a corruption of the above (but see p. 56), It is a common name in Cumber­land, whence it may have been imported into the Isle of Man.

May be from fjall, which in the British Islands has become fell.

From Faiel. William Faiel of Normandy 1180, Gilbert Faiel 1198 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). Petronilla and Reginald Fale, and William de Fall of England c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

A location name from from the Old Norse, fell, a wild hill (fjall, pi., is a range of hills); from the Danish, Fjel; from the Dutch, Fels, Fellinger, Vel, Velde, Veldt, Wel; from the German, Feldt, Feller; from the Flemish, from the French, Velle; personal name Richard-de-la-Felda occurs in Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus, King John, a.d. 1201 (Yorkshire).

Fell: (Old Norse fjall), a mountain: Scarfell.