Show ContentsAubel History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Etymology of Aubel

What does the name Aubel mean?

The surname Aubel was first used as a surname by the people of ancient French region of Gascogne. It was a name for a person distinguished by great physical beauty. Interestingly, the name Aubel was originally derived from the French words, "la belle," which means, " the beautiful."

Early Origins of the Aubel family

The surname Aubel was first found in Gascony (French: Gascogne), an area of southwest France bordering Spain, that was part of the "Province of Guyenne and Gascony" prior to the French Revolution, where they held a family seat in the honor of the seigneurie of De Labels, a village in the Basses-Pyrénées in the arrondisement of de Mauléon.

The Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae also lists Le Bel in Normandy in 1189. 1 One of the earliest notables of the family was Jean Le Bel (c. 1290-1370), a Flemish chronicle and soldier. He was one of the first chroniclers to write in French instead of Latin. As a soldier, he joined with Jean, Count de Beaumont on his travels to England and Scotland in 1327.

Guillaume Labelle, son of Jean and Marie (née Loye), was a French farmer that travelled from Saint-Elei, Normandy to Canada in the 17th century. After arriving in Quebec he married Anne Charbonneau in Montreal on 23rd November 1671. They had eleven children together and five of their sons eventually married and carried on the name Labelle in Canada. 2

Early History of the Aubel family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Aubel research. Another 71 words (5 lines of text) covering the years 1573, 1650, 1674, 1696, 1703, 1734 and 1768 are included under the topic Early Aubel History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Aubel Spelling Variations

Changes of spelling have occurred in most surnames. The earliest explanation is that during the early development of the French language, names were not yet fixed in spelling. Usually a person gave his version of his name, phonetically, to a scribe, a priest, or a recorder. This depended on accent, and local accents frequently changed the spelling of a name. Some variables were adopted by different branches of the family name. Hence, there are some spelling variations of the name Aubel, including Lebel, LeBel, LaBelle, Belle, Bell, Labelle, Label, LaBell, LaBel, LeBelle, LeBaile, LaBaile, Lebaile and many more.

Early Notables of the Aubel family

Notable amongst the family at this time was Firmin Lebel (d. 1573), French composer and choir director; Alexis-Simon Belle (1674-1734), French painter, member of well known family of painters...
Another 29 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Aubel Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Aubel Ranking

In France, the name Aubel is the 6,725th most popular surname with an estimated 1,000 - 1,500 people with that name. 3


Aubel migration to the United States +

Migration from France to New France or Quebec as it was now more popularly called, continued from France until it fell in 1759. By 1675, there were 7000 French in Quebec. By the same year the Acadian presence in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island had reached 500. In the treaty of Utrecht, the Acadians were ceded by France to Britain in 1713. In 1755, 10,000 French Acadians refused to take an oath of allegiance to England and were deported. They found refuge in Louisiana. In 1793, the remaining French in these provinces came under British rule. Meanwhile, in Quebec, the French race flourished, founding in Lower Canada, one of the two great solitudes which became Canada. Many of this distinguished family name Aubel were prominent in social, cultural, religious and political affairs in France and New France. Amongst the settlers in North America with this distinguished name Aubel were

Aubel Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Jacob Aubel, who arrived in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1856 4
  • Conrad Aubel, who landed in Allegany (Allegheny) County, Pennsylvania in 1868 4

Contemporary Notables of the name Aubel (post 1700) +

  • Fernando Matthei Aubel (1925-2017), Chilean Air Force General, Commander-in-Chief (1978–1991)


  1. The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
  2. Olivier, Reginald L. Your Ancient Canadian Family Ties. Logan: The Everton Publishers, Inc., P.O. Box 368, 1972. Print
  3. http://www.journaldesfemmes.com/nom-de-famille/nom/
  4. 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)


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