Cowell

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name, most famously borne by Simon Cowell, the British music producer and television talent show judge
2. A surname shared by various people, best known through Simon Cowell, the British record executive and TV judge
3. A personal surname, most widely recognised through Simon Cowell, the British entertainment producer who judged talent shows

Etymology: Cowell is less a single word than a surname that has picked up several different histories. In Ireland and the Isle of Man it is a shortened form of "McCawell," which in turn comes from the Gaelic "Mac Cathmhaoil," meaning "son of Cathmhaol," a name that translates roughly as "battle chief." Elsewhere in Ireland the same spelling can descend from "Mac Giolla Comhghaill," the son of a devotee of Saint Comhghal, or from a shortened "McCool." English families with the name took it from places called Cowhill, which is simply "cow" and "hill," or from Cowleigh in Worcestershire, where "leigh" means a clearing. A separate English line treats the name as a variant of "Cole." Among Polish, Carpathian Rusyn and Jewish families, the surname was Americanized from "Kowal," the Polish word for "smith," so one spelling can carry Irish, English and Eastern European ancestry at once.