Origin of the Name Hamill
The ancient history of the name
Hamill was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives.
Over the centuries Surnames developed a wide number of variants. Different spellings of the same name can be traced back to an original root. Additionally when a bearer of a name emigrated it was not uncommon that their original name would be incorrectly transcribed in the record books at their new location. Surnames were also often altered over the years based on how they sounded phonetically and depending on the prevailing political conditions it may have been advantageous to change a name from one language to another.
Variants of the name Hamill
include Homill, Hommill, Hamell, Hamel and Hammill. This name in Irish is O'hAghmaill and the latter variants are the anglicized forms of this. This sept came from Tyrone.
A sept or clan is a collective term describing a group of persons whose immediate ancestors bore a common surname and inhabited the same territory. Irish septs and clans that are related often belong to even larger groups, sometimes called tribes.
They were a branch of the Cenel Eoghain with their territory lying in south County Tyrone and neighbouring parts of Oriel where, from the twelfth century onwards, they were noteworthy as poets and ollavs to the O'Hanlons. They were also warlike in their activities as evidenced by Donnell O'Hammoyle who was one of the followers of Rory O'Donnell at the end of the sixteenth century. In the course of time they became closely associated with Counties Armagh, Monaghan and Tyrone. In modern times they are mostly found to be numerous in Counties Armagh and Louth.
The Hamill coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Hamill descendants.