Loffel

Recorded in several similar or associated spellings including Loffill, Leoffel, Loffel, and Lowfill, this is a surname of at least two possible origins and nationalities, which in England have become "fused". The first is English and locational or topographical from eith what seems to be a "lost" medieval village called "Lowfell" or similar, or possibly from residence at the bottom of a fell or hillside. The earliest recordings in the diocese of Greater London are as Lowfill, with as an example that of William Lowfill recorded "in London" on July 20th 1615 and what may be the same person on June 7th 1629 when a William Lowfill married Susan Keene at St Dunstans in the East, Stepney. The surname continues in this spelling for over a century until we have the recording of Jacob Loffel, who married Elizabeth Bone at St Pauls, Covent Garden, city of London, on May 29th 1774. This may be a miss spelling of Lowfill, but is more likely Germanic or Huguenot from the name Loffel, first recorded in Stuttgart, in 1471. A Loffelmacher was a spoon maker. It would seem that by the end of the 18th century in England Lowfill and Loffel had became so intertwined that the spelling became generally Loffill. An example being that of Elizabeth Weston Loffill, the daughter of Joseph Loffill, christened at St Mary Woolnoth, in the city of London, on June 5th 1805.