Surname

The names of Morrill and Morrell represent closely allied families. Most (but not all) people in America who spell their name Morrill with an "i" are descended from Abraham Morrill of Salisbury. However, Abraham's own brother Isaac spelled his name "Morrell". The spelling of the surname in the area of England where these brothers originated is generally, though not exclusively, "Morrell". This goes back as far as Sir Geoffrey Morrell, Lord-of-the-Manor of Morrell Roding in 1316. Most likely, this surname is in turn derived from the French name of "Morel", and therefore Sir Geoffrey's roots probably derive from the Norman conquest of England three hundred years earlier.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language indicates Morel is derived from the word Moor. (Moor: 1. A member of a Muslim people of mixed Berber and Arab descent, now living chiefly in northwest Africa. 2. One of the Muslims who invaded Spain in the 8th century and established a civilization in Andalusia that lasted until the late 15th century. ) The New Dictionary of American Family Names (Elsden C. Smith), indicates that the origin of the family names Morrill, Morrell, and Morrall is "The little dark-complexioned man; descendant of Morel (dark-complexioned)." The Dictionary of British Surnames (P. H. Reaney) indicates that the origin of the family names Morel, Morell, Morill, Morrell, and Morrill is "brown, swarthy as a Moor."

Other surnames have been derived from Morrell as well, including Murrell. However, the name Merrill is clearly distinct, and I know of no relationship between Merrills and any of these other variations.

Although our ancestors may have spelled their name in one of these ways, it does not always appear so in historic documents. Often, the town clerk would spell things phonetically, resulting in "Marl", "Morl", "Moril", "Morril", and other creative twists. More often, the town clerk would learn one spelling and stick with it. As a result, Morrills who lived in Maine are often found in documents with the "e" in their name, and Morrells who lived in Massachusetts are often found in documents with the "i" in their name. The predominant spelling in a given area tended to be favored. For these reasons, the "sounds like" option offered by many genealogy databases have been a blessing. In all other situations, we have to be mindful to look under many different names when searching for an ancestor.

Coat of Arms

Coats of arms originated in England with Knights, who needed some sort of decoration on their armor to help distinguish between each other in battle. English arms of this period were officially registered in the College of Arms in London, and also published in Burke's Peerage. To this day, a coat of arms is not considered "official" unless it is registered with the College of Arms. Even so, a coat of arms is not registered with a surname, but rather with a person, and only he or his direct descendants may call it their own. Thus there may be several official coats of arms registered under a particular surname, or there may be none.

Many companies offer family crest or coat of arms for a given surname. Buyers must exercise caution in dealing with these companies. For example, many companies offer only a handful of different designs, or just one, and simply print your surname onto one of these arbitrary crests. Or you might ask for the surname Morrill and get your name printed on the one for Merrill, because it is close enough.

I know of no official coat of arms for descendants of Abraham Morrill. I have seen mention in several places, notably Morrill Kindred, of Sir Geoffrey Morrill, a Knight and Lord-of-the-Manor of Morrell Roding, Essex, England who lived in the 1300s. This person probably had a coat of arms, but I am not aware of any attempt to research this subject. This would in my opinion be the closest thing our family might have to an official coat of arms or family crest.

Nevertheless, various designs for a coat of arms have been adopted by Morrills and displayed with pride. Some of the designs that I know of are shown below. These would be beautiful in the mentioned colors (azure, sable), but I have not ever seen these drawn in color.

	I. He beareth azure, two griffins rampant or, supporting a diamond argent, by the name of Morrill.
	II. He beareth sable, a leapards head jessant-de-lis or, in the dexter chief a lion passant.
	III. Argent, embattled fesse gules charged with three palm branches of the field between six Cornish choughs proper. Edwards, Gules, a chevron engrailed between three boars' heads erased argent. Crest, a demi-griffin or a leapard's head erased.