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Where do "our" (Jewish) Türkel folks originally come from?
Where does the name Türkel appear first and at what period in History?
Prior to the end of 18th century a surname had been used (in Europe) mainly by "nobel" non-Jewish families. There had been quite a few Jewish families who had surnames. Thereafter family names became obligatory first in Austria (1787), later in Frankfurt on Main (1807), French-occupied Rhineland and Westphalia (1808), Baden (1809), Prussia (1812), Bavaria (1813) and other states. Prussian-occupied Posen (1833) and Saxonia (1834) were among the last.
When family names became obligatory - those people who already had a surname registered it and those who didn't took one.
According to Israeli Sup. Ct. Justice, Yaacov Tirkel, the origin of our name was written Yidish Terk'l, meaning a little Turk. One of the explanations was predicated on the assumption that the family moved from Spain to Turkey and shortly after this to Galicia, Eastern Europe. Adina Turkl Barlev, my 2nd cousin, has insisted that her surname was written Türkl. A German book by Hugo Gold (written in 1929) may illustrate the "true" story behind the inaccurate 17th century legend.
See: http://turkel.org.il/origin.htm
Known surname variations - examples:
ü umlaut Türkel Turkel Türkl Turkl Turkell Tuerkel Turkle Turchel Turkiel