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Leighton,
I think you will find a great many FENNELL's in both England and Ireland. What I have discovered is that the English FENNELL name is generally derived feom growers of FENNEL herb or thos who lived in marshy areas (Fen meaning marsh in Old English - hence Fenway Park in Boston which was built on the Fens, or marshes).
Irish FENNELLs say the root of the name comes from it's original spelling of Fionnghail, meaning of fair valor. Whether there is any connection between the English and Irish FENNELLs I cannot truley say, but there was a great deal of cross migration between the two places throughout the middle ages and it would not suprise me.
There are some who also say that there is a line of FENNELLs in the United States with a French origin of the name FENNELLE. I have yet to see this though. I have even run across a family of Greek descent (from NYC no less) who's nae was changed to FENNELL from Fenokeo (Greek for the Fennel spice)
My experience, with only a few English exceptions, is that the FENNELLs in the Boston and NYC areas are of Irish descent. There are also a number of FENNELLs in Alabama, Tennessee and the Carolinas. My gut feeling is that the vast majority of US FENNELLs originated in Ireland and migrated to the US during the Irish Migration of the 1840s-1860s (almost a quarter of their population). These Fennells landed on ports up and down the eastern seaboard and many of them fought gallantly on both sides of the US Civil War.
I hope this helps.
David Fennell
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