From Kriesel come the names Kusel, Küsel, Kußel, Kusell, Kuesel, Küssel, Kussel, Kuessel and one definition for Kusel is whirlwind.
Kusel is a Plattdeutsches name - Kriesel and Wirbel are found together in my German Word book in the Küsel word section and Wirbel means whirl.
My dad, grandmother Kusel and other Plattdeutches speaking people around Manning, Iowa used Kusel to describe the whirlwind they would see out in the field.
The only thing is they pronounced it slightly different but they were saying Kusel and didn't realize they were using the Kusel name to describe a whirlwind.
This was passed on from my original Kusel ancestors who came over from Germany.
I also believe that Cusel, Cussel & Cussell may come from the same background.
From what I've been told Napoleon changed the spelling of lots of names and he
changed Kusel to Cusel.
The southern town of Kusel, Germany was spelled Cusel at one time as this
old Prussian map shows.
Cusel (you will find Cusel -- now Kusel, Germany at the bottom of the map to the lower right of an area called
Oldenburg).
In 1995, Bienca Kusel (a German foreign exchange
student in Audubon, Iowa) gave me some information about
the Kusel name. She said that Kreisel
was the original spelling.
Kreis [definition:
means circle (to turn around)], and with the el
[definition: means to turn around fast]. Hence Kusel means whirlwind
Emmigrations of Kusels to America
Below are links to over views of Kusel families from around the world.
Interesting German names
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