Heraldry and the Noëll Surname

Ancestors listed as Noëll are often found as Noël a generation earlier. Read literally, Noëll points to “Christmas”.

• Noëll adds “l” to Noël, a small change that appeared as the name was written down.
• Spellings drifted because names were written down by ear in parish books, tax rolls and passenger lists.
• Noëll ranked 15,673 in the 2010 US Census, with 1,862 people answering to the name. French civil records give 421 births under the name Noëll from 1891 to 2000, peaking in 1901–1910.

Noëll coat of arms

Arms linked to Noël and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. For the full story, order the Noëll surname pack.