Family name origins & meanings
- Norwegian and Swedish : from Old Norse hella ‘flat stone’, ‘flagstone’, ‘flat mountain’ or hellir ‘cave’. As a Nowegian name this is generally a habitational name from any of numerous farmsteads so named. As a Swedish name, it is generally ornamental.
- English : variant spelling of Hell 1.
- German : topographic name from Middle High German helle ‘hell’ (modern German Hölle), used (often in field names) in a topographic sense to denote a hollow or a wild, precipitous place.
