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Updated June 9, 2019

Family name origins & meanings

  • Southern English : topographic name for someone who lived near a pool or pond, Middle English pole (Old English pōl), or a habitational name from any of the places named with this word, as for example Poole in Dorset, South Pool in Devon, and Poole Keynes in Gloucestershire.
  • English : from a medieval variant of the personal name Paul.
  • Jewish (from the Netherlands) and Dutch : ethnic name for someone from Poland.
  • Probably a variant of German Pohl 1, Puhl, or Pfuhl, all topographic names from Middle Low German pōl, Middle High German pfuol, ‘pool’, ‘pond’.

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