It derives from an Old Norse (ancestor language of the Scandinavian languages)word, jarl, referring to a chieftain or nobleman - if you've seen the movie, "The Vikings" - with Kirk Douglas, it's those guys. :) Anyway, I've seen it spelled in a variety of ways such as JARRELL. You might try going to the www.genforum.com page and look for the surname JARL or JARRELL and see what they have. It's worth a try. (I'm not a JARL researcher so can't help much beyond this.) Regards, Mona Knight