# Schell (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/schell/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | not recorded |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 13,016 |
| US rank (2010) | 2,773 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 23,720 people |
| Change since 2000 | +1.8% (12,785 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

German surname, from the adjective Schelle (“jingle bell”). Compare Shell.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Schell in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 93% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 1.6% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.7% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Schell in the United States, Switzerland and Belgium.

## People named Schell

- Maria Schell, Austrian-Swiss actress (1926–2005)
- Ronnie Schell, American actor, comedian and cartoon voice actor (1931-2026)
- Frank Schell, American rower (1884–1959)
- Jonathan Schell, American author (1943–2014)
- Jozef Schell, Belgian molecular biologist (1935–2003)

## Similar surnames

Scholl, Schooley, Schall, Scheel, Schill, Satchell, Schley, Scheele, Schaal, Schiele, Schlee, Shelley.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.