Meanings
alternative Purnell
- A surname from the given name Petronella. (see Etymology)
- rareA male given name transferred from the surname.
1 more example
They had called him Parnell to show how Irish he was. At school they called him Parny, so that was it. Anyway Katy and Shane Quinn could always explain it to anyone who mattered that his real name was Parnell, like the great leader. It was just as well nobody asked them too much about the great leader. They were somewhat hazy about what he was leading and when and why.
1996, Maeve Binchy, This Year It Will Be Different: A Christmas Treasury, Hachette UK, published 2008, →ISBN - A suburb of Auckland, New Zealand.
- A number of places in the United States:
- A minor city in Iowa County, Iowa.
- An unincorporated community in Grattan Township, Kent County, Michigan.
- A minor city in Nodaway County, Missouri.
- An unincorporated community in the town of Mitchell, Sheboygan County, Wisconsin.
Origin
Matronymic from a medieval spoken form of Petronella.
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with Parnell
Cite this entry
Parnell. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Parnell
“Parnell.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Parnell. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Parnell,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Parnell.
Source: Parnell on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.