This is a reply within a larger thread: view the whole thread

Re: Twitchell...
in reply to a message by bwt
Ancestry.com only said that it was English, so I looked 'twitch' up on an etymology site and got this ...c.1175, to-twic-chen "pull apart with a quick jerk," related to O.E. twiccian "to pluck," from P.Gmc. *twikjonan (cf. Low Ger. twicken, Du. twikken, O.H.G. gizwickan, Ger. zwicken "to pinch, tweak"). The noun is attested from 1523. I suspect that's the root ...
vote up1vote down

Replies

Yes, it seems that most English words and names beginning with TW once gave the sense of separation or division into two, though the meaning of twitch has changed over time.
Basil Cottle (Penguin Dictionary of Surnames) explains Twitchell, as Old English for a fork in a stream or river, i.e., two branches. Presumably the surname identified someone who lived near a "twitchell".
vote up1vote down