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The mill Surname

mill Name Meaning and History

  1. Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived near a mill, Middle English mille, milne (Old English myl(e)n, from Latin molina, a derivative of molere ‘to grind’). It was usually in effect an occupational name for a worker at a mill or for the miller himself. The mill, whether powered by water, wind, or (occasionally) animals, was an important center in every medieval settlement; it was normally operated by an agent of the local landowner, and individual peasants were compelled to come to him to have their grain ground into flour, a proportion of the ground grain being kept by the miller by way of payment.
  2. English: from a short form of a personal name, probably female, as for example Millicent.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The mill name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the mill family name as far back in history as possible.

mill Family Facts

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Distribution of mill Families in the US in 1920
Number of mill families
 47-92
 16-46		 1-15
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

Click on a state to view mill census records

Year

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  • You can decide where (in which states) to start searching for mill records.
  • You can see how mill families moved over time by selecting different Census years.

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The information for this map came from Ancestry.com’s US Federal Census Collection.
  • Census records can tell you little-known facts about your ancestors such as birthplace, residence and occupation.
  • Click here to search mill census records.

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