The neill Surname
neill Name Meaning and History
Irish and Scottish: reduced form of Irish Gaelic Ó
Néill or Scottish Gaelic Mac Néill ‘descendant (or
son) of Niall’, a personal name of Irish origin, thought to
mean ‘champion’. The personal name was adopted by Norsemen in the form
Njáll, and was brought to England both directly from Ireland
by Scandinavian settlers and indirectly (via France) by the Normans.
Among the latter it had taken the form Ni(h)el, which was
altered by folk etymology to the Latin name Nigellus.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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