I have not been able to determine the exact origin of the name
Biele. Below are some of the
possibilities.
From Germany?
Bielefeld
is a large city in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen (North Rhineland -
Westphalia) in Germany. The
“feld” in German is “field” in English, but there is no
translation of “biele”. The
archivist of Bielefeld did not know either.
He stated that Bielefeld’s name went back to the Middle Ages and
there are no records of its origin.
There
are also smaller cities in Germany, including Biel and Bielen.
A
contact in Germany replied "the 'Biele' is a small river in Schlesien (before WWII German, now Polish). It is situated near
Glatz (today Klotzko - near the Czech border)."
From Slovakia?
The word “biele" translates to “white” in Slovakian. The
name of the Slovak precision flying team (see links page) is the “Biele Albatrosky” which means the “White Albatross”.
There is also a mountain range in Slovakia called the “Biele
Karpaty” or “White Carpathian Mountains”.
There are many surnames, especially German, that are
similar including Biel, Bielen, Bielefeld, Bielefeldt, and Bielenberger.
A
website states that:
"First
found in the duchy of Brunswick, where the family emerged in mediaeval times
as one of the notable families of the region"
http://www.houseofnames.com/coatofarms_details.asp?sId=&s=biele
I have never
put much faith in these generic family sites, but who knows.
If you have any information, please send me a note at kenbiele@yahoo.com