Durel is a French last name,Albert Dauzat, Noms et prénoms de France, Librairie Larousse 1980, édition revue et commentée par Marie-Thérèse Morlet, p. 225b mainly found originally in NormandyFilae - surname Durel in France : birth between 1891 and 1915 and derived from the French adjective dur ("hard", "tough") + suffix -el. French variant forms include Dureau, Duret, Durelle and Durette. The Durel form was anglicized in Durell, Durrell. The English spelling -ell renders the French pronunciation of -el (see also : Brunell, Anketell, LeBell, Cotterell, etc.)
With another etymology – it can also be rarer found in Turkey, where it may be derived like the names Duran ("staying"), Durmuş ("stayed") and Dursun ("he may stay") from the Turkish verb durmak ("to stop", "to stand", "to stay", "to remain").Rosa und Volker Kohlheim, Duden Familiennamen: Herkunft und Bedeutung von 20.000 Nachnamen, 206
Notable people with the surname include:
Joey Durel (born 1953), American businessman and former mayor of Lafayette, Louisiana John Durel (1625–1683), Jèrriais cleric Philippe Durel (born 1954), former French racing cyclist
See also DJ Durel, American record producer and DJ Durel Avounou (born 1997), Congolese footballer
References