The name Grivel pops up all around the world, but is clearly concentrated in (and almost certainly originating from) France and Switzerland.
In order to get some idea of the distribution of Grivels over the world, I examined on-line telephone directories from many countries in January of 2000. The results can be found in the Grivel in Telephone Directories overview.
In addition to people named Grivel, there are other occurrences of the name that I have come across. First of all, of course, the the Italian Grivel Mont Blanc company, the owner of the www.grivel.com domain. See also Italian Grivels for more information.
In France, there is a Boulevard Amiral Grivel in Brive la Gaillarde and a Rue Joseph Grivel in Crest. There also seems to be a Grivel Island in South Korea and a Kap Grivel in Greenland, but I have not been able to find any additional information on them.
I have some additional information about Grivel families in the following countries:
