Surname information for Kufel

She was from southern Poland I'm assuming; maybe Galicia. Is it common to have both Austrian and polish listed as the nationality around this time?

If anyone has any info on this surname it would appreciated.

Ellis Island info
First Name : Helena
Last Name : Kufel
Nationality : Austria, Polish
Last Place of Residence : Stany
Date of Arrival : January 22nd, 1903
Age at Arrival : 16y
Gender : Female
Marital Status : Single
Ship of Travel : Friesland
Port of Departure : Antwerp

KUFEL: beer mug; several thousands users in Poland but less than 50 in Germany. During the partitions Polish immirgants had travel documents indicating the foreign occupation zone -- Russian, Prussian or Austrian -- they were living in.

TY, is there a sort of assumption as to why someone would take the surname "beer mug"?

Normally no-one TOOK a nickname. He simply got called that by fellow-villagers and it caught on and stuck. Apparently some association with that vessel (either he produced or sold them them or was constantly seen at the village inn with one in hand!) inspired fellow-villagers to coin such a nick.

Nonsense. During the partitions, ethnic Poles were citizens of either Russian Empire/Congress Poland, Austria-Hungary or Prussia/German Empire and had the proper documents. Pretending otherwise is an old commie attempt to rewrite history, which - under certain circumstances - can be misleading when someone tries to research his or her family history.

Almost any object or living creature has been used over the generations as a Polish nickname-turned-surname.
Why would anyone be called Kufel? Well, why would anybody be called £YŻKA, MISA, GARNEK, DZBANEK,SZKLANKA, NOGA, RĘKA, NOS, OKO, ŻYTO, BYK, KOZA, £OPATA, MOTYKA, KASZA, ZUPA, POTRAWA, POLEWKA, SA£ATA, BURAK, KAPUSTA, KIE£BASA and the list goes on and on....