This surname of AURELI was a Provencal and Catalan nickname for a man with bright yellow hair, originally rendered in the Latin form AUREOLUS meaning 'golden'. Surnames derived from placenames are divided into two broad categories; topographic names and habitation names. Topographic names are derived from general descriptive references to someone who lived near a physical feature such as an oak tree, a hill, stream or a church. Habitation names are derived from pre-existing names denoting towns, villages and farmsteads. Other classes of local names include those derived from the names of rivers, individual houses with signs on them, regions and whole countries. The name has many variant spellings which include Oriol, Oriou, Orieux, Auriol, Auriou, Loriol, Lauriol and Loriot. AURELIAN, properly Lucius Domitius ARUELIANUS (c.212-275) was the Roman emperor, born of humble origins in Dacia or Pannonia. Enlisting as a common soldier he rose rapidly to the highest military offices. On the death of Claudius II (270) he was elected emperor by the army, with whom he was very popular. By restoring good discipline in the army, order in domestic affairs, and political unity, he merited the title 'Restorer of the World'. In the 8th century, Spain fell under the control of the Moors, and this influence, which lasted into the 12th century, has also left its mark on Hispanic surnames. A few names are based directly on Arabic personal names. The majority of Spanish occupational and nickname surnames, however, are based on ordinary Spanish derivatives. In Spain identifying patronymics are to be found as early as the mid-9th century, but these changed with each generation, and hereditary surnames seem to have come in slightly later in Spain than in England and France. As well as the names of the traditional major saints of the Christian Church, many of the most common Spanish surnames are derived from personal names of Germanic origin. For the most part these names are characteristically Hispanic. They derive from the language of the Visigoths, who controlled Spain between the mid-5th and early 8th centuries.