I have seen a multitude of variations to surnames in British records and the surname name Breakell is no exception. Among our confusion is the common spelling Breakel and Breakell. There are many who record our grandmother Ellen as “Ellen Breakel/Breakell” since no conclusion has been derived. So I decided to share a method how to resolve the issue. I took an hour and reviewed the IGI extracted christenings from the Longton and Penwortham parishes in Lancashire to analyze the number of instances of the surname there. This is what I came up with:
Brakell = 1
Brechel = 1
Breckel = 6
Breckell = 2
Breakall = 1
Breakel = 2
Breakell = 25
Breakill = 3
Breckel = 2
Breckell = 2
Breckels = 1
Breckhill = 4
Breckil = 1
Brekel = 1
Brekhil = 1
The obvious variation that was used more than the others by church recorders was Breakell. Further, both the extracted christening and marriage record of Ellen list her name as “Ellen Breakell.” With this simple deduction I changed all instances of the name in the Alexander Neibaur Society database to “Breakell,” although I know there will be variations (and some who will disagree). I just wanted to share the “reasoning behind the madness.” Chad.
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