Corbell History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
France
Italy

From the historical and enchanting Italian region of Tuscany emerged a multitude of noble families, including the distinguished Corbell family. During the Middle Ages, as populations grew and travel between regions became more frequent, the people of Tuscany found it necessary to adopt a second name to identify themselves and their families. The process of adopting fixed hereditary surnames was not complete until the modern era, but the use of hereditary family names in Italy began in the 10th and 11th centuries. Italian hereditary surnames were developed according to fairly general principles and they were characterized by a profusion of derivatives coined from given names. Although the most common type of family name found in Tuscany is the patronymic surname, which is derived from the father's given name, the nickname type of surname is also frequently found. Nickname surnames were derived from an eke-name, or added name. They usually reflected the physical characteristics or attributes of the first person that used the name. The surname Corbell is a name for a person who was raven-haired or dark-complexioned. The surname Corvi is derived from the Italian word corvo, which comes from the Latin corvus, which means raven or crow. Furthermore, this nickname surname was often used to describe priests, probably because they dressed in black.

Early Origins of the Corbell family

The surname Corbell was first found in Lucca, a city and comune in Tuscany, capital of the province of Lucca and where Bascilican type churches abound. Records can be traced back to the 10th century with a Conte Fraolmo Corvaia who owned much land in the Val di Lima. It was at this time that Tuscany was taken over by the house of Boniface. Some of the earliest listings of the name include: Guglielmo Corvi, a professor of philosophy and logic at the University of Padua in 1250; Giovanni Corvini was an ecclesiastic and diplomat in Arezzo during the early 14th century.

Early History of the Corbell family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Corbell research. The years 1615, 1636, 1638, 1681 and 1750 are included under the topic Early Corbell History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Corbell Spelling Variations

Italian surnames come in far more variations than the names of most other nationalities. Regional traditions and dialects are a decisive factor in this characteristic. For example, northern names tend to end in "o", while southern in "i". Also important, but not unique to Italy, was the fact that before dictionaries and the printing press most scribes simply spelled words according to their sounds. The predictable result was an enormous number of spelling variations. The recorded spellings of Corbell include Corvi, Corvo, Cuorvo, Corbi, Corbo, Corbu, Crovi, Crovo, Corvetto, Corvietto, Corvini, Corvino, Corvinelli, Corvascio, Corbelli, Corbello, Corbellini, Corbetti, Corbetto, Corbittu, Corbini, Corbino, Corbucci, Corboli, Corbascio, Corbari, Corbato, Corbatti, Corbatto, Crovetti, Crovetto, Crovari, Crovara and many more.

Early Notables of the Corbell family

Prominent among members of the family was Blasco Corvino was the first prince of the Sicilian town Mezzojuso in 1638, and was head of the legal courts as well as a priest in Palermo; members of the Corvo family in Sulmona were landowners of Cerviglione and much land in Abruzzo; Cardinal Marcello Cervini, who took the name of Marcellus II, being the last pope in the history who retained his baptismal name; and Maddalena Corvini, born in Rome...
Another 77 words (6 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Corbell Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Corbell migration to the United States +

In the immigration and passenger lists a number of early immigrants bearing the name Corbell were found:

Corbell Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Clemt Corbell, who arrived in Virginia in 1657 1
Gabriell Corbell, who arrived in Virginia in 1657 1
John Corbell, who landed in Virginia in 1657 1
Denis Corbell, who landed in Virginia in 1661 1
Angell Corbell, who landed in Virginia in 1661 1
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Corbell Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Jacques Corbell, who landed in Virginia in 1700 1

Corbell migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

John G. Corbell, aged 19, who arrived in New Plymouth aboard the ship "Phoebe Dunbar" between 1841 and 1850

Contemporary Notables of the name Corbell (post 1700) +

Preston Michael Corbell, American actor, filmmaker and writer
Jeremy Kenyon Lockyer Corbell (b. 1977), American contemporary artist
Simon Corbell (b. 1970), Australian politician, 12th Deputy Chief Minister of the Australian Capital Territory (2014-)

Citations +

Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)