Family name origins & meanings

• English and Scottish : topographic name for someone who lived near a pit or man-made hollow, from Old French fouille ‘pit’. The pit in question could have been a lime pit, a clay pit, or an excavation designed to receive refuse. There are several minor places in England named with this word, as for example Foyle Farm in Oxted, Surrey, and in some instances the surname may be a habitational name derived from one of these rather than directly from the physical feature.