FamilyEducation.com
   
 

Last name origins & meanings:

  1. Jewish (Ashkenazic): patronymic from the Yiddish personal name Amsl, from German Anselm (see Anselmo).
  2. German: from Amsel ‘(European) blackbird’ (a bird related to the American robin), hence either a nickname for someone fond of singing or an occupational name for a bird catcher.