Does anyone knows where the last name Medel comes from?

Question:

Does anyone knows where the last name Medel comes from?

I check on my ancestry.com and it says from Germany, and other places but the funny thing Im hispanic. Or do you think that is possible?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: The shortcoming of the surname sites is that they're overly general and go for the very first instance of the name and not how it spread across the world.

Surnames don't come from places, people do. People chose their surnames and took them with them wherever they went. Names also mutated over time.

There may be German people with the name Medel, but there are also MANY Mexicans with that surname. I have found hundreds of people from Texas over the last 200 years who are Mexican/Mexican-Americans named Medel.

In the El Paso city directory of 1927 there's Gregorio, Isabella and Manuel. Doesn't sound too German to me...but sure sounds Mexican.

There are 669 birth records in Texas with parents named Medel...and first names like Maria Lourdes, Zulema, Luz Maria and Christopher Herrera Medel. Again, I'm not seeing the German but sure am seeing the Hispanic.

I'll bet if you do a search of the Mexican white pages, you'll find thousands of people with the Medel surname. Just a hunch, but I'll bet the surname developed in Central and South America independently of Germany.