Family name origins & meanings
- Origin unidentified. Perhaps a variant of French Clavel.
- In at least one case, this name is a Germanized form of French <xref>Clavel</xref>, borne by Huguenot refugees who fled from Dauphiné to Baden in the late 17th century, when Protestants in France endured persecution following revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685. The name was brought to PA from Baden by Frantz Clawell in 1737.