This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the morel,' dark-complexioned. A once common name for a horse. 'Morel, horse, morellus': Promptorium Parvulorum Mr. Way in a note quotes, 'Morel: noir, tanne, tirant sur le brun': Roquefort. In the Towneley Mysteries: 'Morelle occurs as one of the steeds yoked to Cain's plough'. Mor, a species of dark cherry.

Herveus Morel, Norfolk, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Nicholas Morel, Norfolk, ibid.

Thomas Morel, Huntingdonshire, ibid.

Ralph Morell. Placitorum in domo capitulari Westmonasteriensi.

(a) Bapt. 'the son of Morel,' dark-complexioned. White. Black, and Brown (which see) were all employed as baptismal names.

Moral de Hulfton, 1171: Hodgson's History of Northumberland.

Morel (without surname), Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

The heirs of Morell, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

1666. Stephen Brewer and Anne Morrell: Marriage Alleg. (Canterbury).

An old Yorkshire family name, represented in other parts of England in the thirteenth century (Guppy, p. 430). It is territorial, from Morel in Normandy. Symon Morellus witnessed gift of the church of Molle to the Abbey of Kelso, c. 1190 (Kelso, 147).

(Anglo-French-Latin-Greek) Dark-Coloured [Middle English Old French morel(l; Old French More, Moor, black man + the diminutive suff. -el (Latin -ell-us); Latin Maur-us, Greek Μαΰρ-ος, a Moor: cp. French moreau, m., morelle, from, very black] Thomas Morel.— Hundred Rolls On désigne encore aujourd’hui, en Normandie, un cheval noir sous la dénomination de cheval morel.—Moisy, Noms de Fam. Norm., p. 328.

(English) The little, dark-complexioned man; descendant of Morel (dark-complexioned).

This name is by some writers conjectured to have been the sobriquet of a dark-complexioned man. John Morel was seated in Norfolk in 1086 (Domesday) and another—if not the same Morel, occurs in Northumberland nine years afterwards. “In the year 1095, Robert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, and his party, marched into Bamborough Castle for security, on the approach of the royal troops to chastise them for their treason. The King, William Rufus, besieged it in person. As traitors never think themselves safe anywhere, Mowbray secretly fled for sanctuary to St. Oswin’s shrine at Tynemouth, where he was taken prisoner. His steward and kinsman, Morel, with a courage that would have done honour to a better cause, defended the Castle in the absence of his unfortunate lord. He defended it against all the forces of the King. The King had turned the siege into a blockade, and raised a fortress near it called Malvoisin, i.e. Bad Neighbour, some time before the Earl fled. Morel, not terrified by so many bad neighbours, still held out, with an astonishing perseverance and resolution, to the surprise of the King, who, beginning to be uneasy, tried to effect that by policy, which he could not do by force. He ordered the Earl to be led up to the very walls, and a declaration to be made, that if the Castle did not surrender, his eyes should be instantly put out This succeeded to his wish. Morel no sooner beheld him in this im­minent danger, than he consented to yield upon terms. For his fidelity and affection to his lord, and his gallant defence, the King took him into his Royal protection and favour. A god-like action, thus generously to reward a faithful enemy!” Wallis' Antiquities of Northumberland. Another John Morel (no doubt his descendant) held a fief in Northumberland in 1165. (Liber Niger). Robert Morel witnesses Jordan de Chevrecourt’s grant to Pontefract (Mon. Angl.) William Morel, in the time of Henry III., held one knight’s fee at Newton- Morrel, near Gilling, of the Honour of Richmond.—Gale's Richmonds hire. The coat of Sir William Morele, "les armes de France ove un lyon recoupée d’argent ung bende de goules,” is entered in 1322 on the roll of the battle of Boroughbridge. —Palgrave's Parliamentary Writs. In the same year Lucas Morel, resident in the Hundred of Hinckford, testified as “being blind and exceeding fourscore years of age.”—Ibid.

The name extended throughout England. Middleton Morel was their seat in Northumberland. Ralph Morell held one knight’s fee in Roding-Morell, Essex, of the Honour and Castle of Aungre (Ongar). Geoffrey Morell was the owner in 1317; “and the year following a fine passed between him, Joan his wife, and Alan Morell.”—Morant. Another manor in the parish of Gosfield, in the same county, was named from them; and some of the family “were living in Hedingham Sible as low as the reign of Henry VIII.” In the time of Henry I., "Morel de Hcddendon” held of the barony of Robert de Ewyas.—Duncumb's Herefordshire. Nicholas Morrel, of Lincolnshire, occurs in the Rotulus Cancellarii of 1202.

"The great grandfathers of Dr. Morell [LLD., who died at Bath in 1840] both paternally and maternally were Huguenots, who resided in the province of Champagne, in France. At the memorable era of the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, these confessors were imprisoned, their goods confiscated, and there is reason to believe that they eventually suffered martyrdom. Of one of them it is related, that during his imprisonment he was the means of confirming the faith of his fellow-prisoners by his discourses, and that he was accustomed to preach to the inhabitants of the town in which he was immured through the grating of his dungeon. Each of these admirable men left an infant son, whose respective names were Daniel Morel and Stephen Conte, and who, as it will presently appear, were the great-grandfathers of Dr. Morell. During a dreadful day of persecution, when blood was streaming in the streets, and the Protestants were fleeing from the sword, two soldiers entered a house, and after having killed some of the inmates, seeing an infant lying in the cradle, one of them, with his sword, pierced it, and the blood gushed forth.-its life, however, was saved; it was snatched up by some one, who remarked that The babe at least was not a Protestant, and it was taken and given to a Protestant woman, who had a little one of her own then hanging at her breast; she took the child and became a, mother to it: and these two boys, both fed upon the same bosom, grew up together to be men. One of them,-that one that nearly lost his life in the cradle, was Daniel Morell, and that woman's child was Stephen Conte. Some Protestants of distinction, who were emigrants to Holland, took charge of the orphans; and they, when they arrived at manhood, attached themselves to a regiment of French refugees, which was raised about that time by the Prince of Orange, and which on his accession to the English throne, accompanied him to this country. In his service these young men passed over into Ireland, and married into Protestant families, who, like themselves, had been the victims of religious persecution. The foster brothers, who had been so nearly and wonderfully united in their infancy, saw themselves again united, in their age, in the persons of their children; for the son of Daniel Morell married the daughter of Stephen Conte, and the issue of this marriage was the late Mr. Stephen Morell, the father of Dr. Morell." Sketch of Life and Character of Rev. J. Morell, L.L.D., by the Rev. T. B. Wreford, D.D., F.S.A. But there were other and earlier importations of this name into England, the first on record being that of one Morel, who is mentioned in the Domesday of Norfolk. The word is a diminutive of the Old French More, a Moor, and refers to darkness of complexion.

From the French, Morel; in the Domesday Book, Morel; a personal name A location name in Normandy. In Roll of Battell Abbey. Philip de Morel in Rotuli de Oblatis et Finibus, King John Also a Huguenot name.

A Norman name: From the Domesday Book,; a local name

The West Riding is now the principal home of the Morrells, but they are also to be found in the other divisions of the county. In the 13th century they were represented by the Morels in Norfolk, Hunts, Cambridgeshire, Oxfordshire, etc. (H. R.).