Where did the name Bell come from? What is their coat of arms? When did the Bell family first arrive in the United States? Where did the various branches of the family go? What is the history of the family name?

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Bell Coat of Arms and Name History

Bell

Origin Displayed: English

Origins Available: Borderlands, English, French

Spelling variations of this family name include: Bell, Belle and others.

First found in Dumfriesshire, where they held a family seat from ancient times, long before the Norman Conquest in 1066.

Some of the first settlers of this family name or some of its variants were: George Bell, who came to Virginia in 1638; James Bell, who settled in the Barbados in 1635; John Bell who settled in Virginia in 1638; Alexander Bell who settled in Virginia in 1654.

Suggested Readings for the name Bell
"Ancestral Lines and Descendants of Frances Emily (Botsfor, Morse and Jean) (Botsford) Bell" by Doreen Potter Hanna, "Backward Glimpse" by Iris Bell. "Sir Robert Bell and His Early Virginia Colony Descendants." by James Elton Bell and Frances Jean Bell. Wheatmark, January 2007

Some noteworthy people of the name Bell

Alexander Melville Bell (1819-1905), American teacher of elocution and father of Alexander Graham Bell
Lawrence Dale Bell (1895-1956), American aircraft designer
Technical Sergeant Bernard Pious Bell (1911-1971), Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II
Graham Arthur Charlton Bell (b. 1949), English academic, writer, and evolutionary biologist
Arthur Clive Howard Bell (1881-1964), English critic of art and literature
Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell (1868-1926), English archaeologist
George Kennedy Allen Bell (1885-1958), English prelate and ecumenist
Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell (1816-1904), English industrialist and metallurgist
Robert Anning Bell (1863-1933), English painter
Thomas Bell (1792-1800), English naturalist
Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922), inventor of the telephone, born in Edinburgh, Scotland, emigrated to the United States in 1870, where he was a Professor of Physiology at Boston University, and exhibited his telephone invention in 1870
William E. Bell (b. 1945), award winning Canadian Young Adult fiction author
Brigadier General George Gray Bell OC, MBE, CD (1920-2000), Canadian soldier, civil servant, and academic awarded the Officer of the Order of Canada in 1988
George John Bell (1872-1944), Australian politician, speaker of the Australian House of Representatives (1934-1940)
John Howatt Bell (1846-1929), Canadian politician from Prince Edward Island
Richard Bell (1946-2007), Canadian musician perhaps best remembered as the pianist for Janis Joplin and her Full Tilt Boogie Band and was a keyboardist with The Band during the 1990s
Robin Bell (b. 1977), Australian slalom canoer named Western Australian Sports Star of the Year in 2005, and became world number one in 2006
Lord Timothy John Leigh Bell (b. 1941), Baron Bell, British advertising and public relations executive in the United Kingdom, best known for his advisory role in Margaret Thatcher's three successful general election campaigns
Andrew Bell (1753-1832), British educationist
Charles Hamilton Bell AO (1960-2005), Australian business executive, president of the American-based fast-food chain McDonald's from December 2002, and additionally as chief executive officer from April to November 2004
George Joseph Bell (1770-1843), Scottish jurist
Henry Bell (1767-1830), Scottish engineer who is famed for introducing the first successful passenger steamboat service in Europe
John Stewart Bell (1928-1990), Irish physicist, and the originator of Bell's Theorem, one of the most important theorems in quantum physics
John Joy Bell (1871-1931), Scottish journalist and author
Sir John Irving Bell FRS, PMedSci (b. 1952), Canadian immunologist and geneticist who resides in the UK. As of 2008, he is President of the Academy of Medical Sciences
John Jay Bell (1871-1934), Scottish journalist and humor writer
Patrick Bell (1799-1869), Scottish clergyman
Sir Robert Bell (1800-1867), Irish man of letters and one of the founders of the Dublin Historical Society

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