Family name origins & meanings
- German and Dutch : habitational name from any of the various places called Zelle or Celle, in particular Celle near Hannover, named with German Zelle ‘cell’, Middle High German zelle (from Latin cella ‘small room’), or a topographic name from this word, denoting someone who lived near the site of a hermit’s cell.
- German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) : In other cases it was an occupational name for someone who owned or was employed at a Zelle in the sense of a small workshop.