Gill (name)


Gill may be a surname or given name, derived from a number of unrelated sources.

Europe

In Europe, various cultures use the name, examples being:
  • the Dutch form of the given name Giles
  • in English, Gill may be a hypocorism of a number of given names, including Giles, Julian, William, Gillian, Gilbert
  • in Northern English, Scots and Norwegian, it may be a topographic name, ultimately derived from Old Norse gil 'ravine'; for example: Lord Gill
  • as a surname, an anglicization of the Scottish or Irish patronymic McGill, also derived from the origins of the same English name.

Indian subcontinent

  • in Punjab, a clan of Jats and Ramgharias, it may be derived from the Punjabi word 'gil' meaning "moisture". According to oral history, the progenitor of the clan was a man named Gill. Shergill, Virk, and Sidhu are descendant clans of the Gill Jat clan. The name is also used by the Chuhra caste, including the Mirasis. According to bhāt records, the Gill Jat clan claims origin to an abandoned child found by a raja in a moist, jungle area of the wilds who was being attended by a lion. This tale is recounted in colonial-era literature. Connections to historic and contemporary Iranic peoples, such as the ancient Gelae tribe of the Scythians and the present-day Gilaki people, and locations such as Gilan, have been suggested. There were half a million Gill Jats recorded in the 1881 British India census. The Gill Jats had a marriage custom which involved digging a hole in a muddy spring. The Gill surname is also common amongst the Punjabi diaspora in Canada, as many Punjabi-Canadians have ancestral origins from a cluster of 52 villages in Moga, Ludhiana, and Faridkot districts where the Gill surname is common.

West Asia

In Hebrew, a masculine given name or byname meaning "joy, gladness".

East Asia

In Korean, a common personal name often transliterated as ''Gil.''

People with the surname Gill

People with the given name Gill

Women

Men