Recorded in France in a number of spellings forms such as Carel, Carrell, Carrelet, de Carel, de Carrel, and in the British Isles - as Ducarel, Du-Carol, Dockrel, Dockerell, Dockrell, Dockrill, Dockerill, and probably others, this is surname of ancient French origins - of which it may have three. The most likely origin is locational for a former inhabitant of the village of Le Carrel, near Chambery in south east France, or the village of Careil in Loire Inferieure. The meaning of the place names is probably the same, a derivation from the ancient Latin word 'careo', meaning 'free of want'. This also has the transferred meaning of a merchant, and perhaps the villages were places particularly associated with wealthy traders? It is also just possible that some modern spellings derive by transposition from the word 'quarel', job descriptive for a maker of 'quarrels.' These were the bolts for crossbows, and a busy pursuit in medieval times. The third possibility is a derivative of the word 'querel' meaning to quarrel, and hence a nickname for a bad tempered person or given medieval humour - the opposite! Sadly most early French registers were destroyed during the Revolution of 1789 - 1794 as being instruments of the king's secret service, and history repeated itself in 1916 when the IRA destroyed the ancient Irish records in Dublin. In England the name probably came over - if not with William the Conqueror in 1066, - then in the century following. Recordings may well lie in currentIy unpublished medieval pipe rolls, wills, and deeds. Certainly the name had a second importation between the years 1580 and 1750 with the fall of the Huguenot protestants, some 50,000 of whom came from the Continent in those years. It is unclear when the surname was first recorded in other than church recordings which commence from 1535, but by the 17th century it had metamorphised into various spellings of the 'sounds like' Dockrell - English form. Examples include Emm Dockrell who married Stephen Quicke at the church of St Mary Magdalen in the city of London on July 12th 1613, and William Docarill who was a witness at St Andews church, Enfield, Middlesex, on July 16th 1643. A clearly Huguenot recording is that of Adrian Du-Carol and his wife Elizabeth, whose daughter Elizabeth Mary was christened at the church of St Thomas the Apostle, in the city of London, on July 17th 1741. Two years later at the same church their son was christened as Gerard Gustavus Ducarel, on May 3rd 1743 the surname now being spelt in the modern form. There are a number of coats of arms granted in the spellings of Carel (Lorraine), Carol (Spain), Carrel (France), Carelli (Italy), and Carrell (England). The later amassed no less than ten versions in the counties of Sussex and Kent.

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