Although this name is accepted as being of Germanic origins, strictly speaking it is Polish, and a name borne by a member of the Polish nobility. It derives from "Jagiello", Wladyslaw Jagiello (1348 - 1434) being the founder of the Polish-Lithuanian dynasty that ruled Poland until 1572. The surname originally bore the suffix "-ski", a sign of nobility equivalent to the German "von" or French "de". The plurality as Jagels may indicate a patronymic "son of" or may be a shortened form of "Jagelski", Friedericke Wilhelmine Jagelski being christened at Belgard Koslin, Province of Pomerania, on October 12th 1805. The meaning is probably "the hunter", and a developed form of the Old High German "jager", but this is unproven. The name recordings include Philip Jagels, who with his wife Mary Ann, recorded triplets called Philip John, Mary Ann, and Clara Jane, on December 4th 1853, at St. Luke's Church, Old Street, Finsbury, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Johann Heinrich Jagels, which was dated September 29th 1816, a witness at Berlin Stadt, Brandenburg, Germany, during the reign of Francis 11, Emperor of Germany and Austria 1804 - 1835. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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