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Vaskelis...Vaškelis

A surname... pavardė... un nom de famille

...from Lithuanian. It is a diminutive of the word for beeswax (vaškas). It possibly meant son of a wax maker.

In looking for earliest use of the last name, I found records of people with the name originating from Vaškai (Vaškelėnų/Vaškų kaimas - sioło Waszkielance), a small town in northeastern Lithuania.

A linguist has thought family last name's ancient origins as Ivaška (in neighboring White Ruthenia), and probably has shared origins with other Lithuanian surname variations such as Vashkelis, Vaškas, Vaškela, Vaškevičius, and even Vaskevich, Vaskevicz, Voskevich, Voskevicz, Washkalis, Waskalis, Waskelis, Waszkallis, Waszkelis, Waskiewic, Waskielicz (towards nearby Poland, Russia or Ukraine), Wuskell (changed emigrating to the United States). If a last name has a Baltic origin with "vašk" ("vask", "Ivask", "Ivaskas", "Ivoske", "Ivaskevicius", "Ivasko") in it or Slavic origin with "vosk" ("Ivosko") or "wask" ("Iwasko") in it may be related along with other broader variants that cross Eastern Europe. ("Ivashkov")

Bronius Vaškelis, Ph.D., professor of theatrical and literary criticism
Darius Vaskelis, technology executive and management consultant
Richard Vaskelis, painter