This unusual and interesting name is of Norman French origin, and is a metonymic occupational surname for a maker of small bags, satchels. The name was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066 in the Old French form "sachel", a little bag, or sack, along with the similar term "sachier", maker of sacks, which has produced the modern surname "sacher". In England the native equivalent of the surname is derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century "sacc", sack or bag, which produced the modern surnames Sack, Sacker, Secker, and the diminutive form Sackett. The modern surname from the French "sachel" can be found as Satchel and Satchell. One John Sachell married Anne Hapenny in London, in September 1632, and the christening of Mary, daughter of Thomas and Mary Satchel, was recorded at St. Giles Cripplegate, London, on May 2nd 1726. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Nicholas Sachel, which was dated 1243, witness in the "Assize Court Rolls of Somerset", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. 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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