Family name origins & meanings
- English : of uncertain origin. It may be a variant of Backwell, a habitational name from Backwell in Somerset, named with Old English bæc ‘ridge’ + wella ‘spring’, ‘stream’, or possibly from Bakewell in Derbyshire (see Bakewell). Alternatively, it may be from a minor place named with an unattested Old English word, bagga ‘ badger’ + wella ‘spring’, ‘stream’.