Pronunciation O'Hamill | Language(s) of origin Irish | |
Meaning Descendant of Ádhmall (quick, ready, active) Region of origin Ruled a territory in South Tyrone & Armagh, now found across Ulster and Louth Motto Esse Quam Videri
To Be Rather Than To Seem Related names |
Ó hÁdhmaill is an ancient family name originating in Ireland, that is now rendered in many forms, and whose descendants in Ireland are found predominantly across the province of Ulster, and the County of Louth. The vast majority of the clan now use 'Hamill' as their surname.
Contents
- Motto and Coat of Arm
- History
- Irish English Hamill
- Notable people include
- Notable people with Anglicised variants include
- Places
- Variations
- Unrelated names same spelling
- References
In Irish if the second part of the surname begins with a vowel 'Á', the form Ó attaches a h to it, this is the h-prothesis mutation. In this case Ádhmaill becomes Ó hÁdhmaill. The other forms effect no change: Ní Adhmaill, (Bean) Uí Adhmaill.
Capitalized as: Ó hÁDHMAILL or Ó ʜÁDHMAILL, the first 'h' should always be either lowercase, or a smaller 'H' font size.
Motto and Coat of Arm
The motto is Esse Quam Videri, translated as To Be Rather Than To Seem.
The Coat of Arms is described as being; "A blue shield with two horizontal bars of ermine fur, representing the Girdle of Honour worn in ancient times by senior public officials. On top of the shield is the coronet, or crown of a duke. Atop the coronet is the figure of a leopard in profile, sitting with its face to the viewer's left."
History
The Clan moved from North Ulster with the Northern Ui Neill's, and settled in County Tyrone and County Armagh, South Ulster.
Irish-English Hamill
Prior to the middle of the 20th century, Irish was usually written using the Gaelic typefaces, in this case the surname appeared as Ó hÁḋmaıll. The dot above the lenited letter (ḋ) was replaced by the letters dh from the standard Roman alphabet changing it to Ó hÁdhmaıll. Also the Irish language makes no graphemic distinction between dotted i and dotless ı so at the same time it changed to Ó hÁdhmaill.
As the dh is silent, the pronunciation is similar to spelling it as O'Hamill which is how it came to be spelt when it was phonetically anglicised, over time the spelling lost the O' and changed to Hamill, giving us the modern Irish-English spelling of Hamill.
Notable people include
Notable people with Anglicised variants include
Places
Variations
Hamell in Irish is Ó hÁmaill
Unrelated names – same spelling
There are several surnames that are spelt the same but are unrelated: