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ArchivesRe: origin of surnames
in reply to a message by LaTonia Washington
Diamond
Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of a Jewish surname, spelled in various ways, derived from modern German Diamant, Demant ‘diamond’, or Yiddish dime(n)t, going back to Middle High German diemant (via Latin from Greek adamas ‘unconquerable’, genitive adamantos, a reference to the hardness of the stone). The name is mostly ornamental, one of the many Ashkenazic surnames based on mineral names, though in some cases it may have been adopted by a jeweler.
English: variant of Dayman (see Day). Forms with the excrescent d are not found before the 17th century; they are at least in part the result of folk etymology.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Diamáin ‘descendant of Diamán’, earlier Díomá or Déamán, a diminutive of Díoma, itself a pet form of Diarmaid (see McDermott).
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=Diamond
Dillard
English: unexplained; possibly a variant of Dollard. The name was in VA by 1698.Dollard
English: nickname from Middle English dull + -ard ‘dull or stupid person’. Compare Doll 5.
Irish: either an importation to Ireland of the English name or, possibly, a reduced and altered form of de la Hyde (see Dollarhide).
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?fid=10&ln=Dollard&fn=&yr=1920&
Henry
English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements haim, heim ‘home’ + ric ‘power’, ‘ruler’, introduced to England by the Normans in the form Henri. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the personal name were equally popular throughout Europe (German Heinrich, French Henri, Italian Enrico and Arrigo, Czech Jindrich, etc.). As an American family name, the English form Henry has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this ancient name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) In the period in which the majority of English surnames were formed, a common English vernacular form of the name was Harry, hence the surnames Harris (southern) and Harrison (northern). Official documents of the period normally used the Latinized form Henricus. In medieval times, English Henry absorbed an originally distinct Old English personal name that had hagan ‘hawthorn’. Compare Hain 2 as its first element, and there has also been confusion with Amery.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hInnéirghe ‘descendant of Innéirghe’, a byname based on éirghe ‘arising’.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Éinrí or Mac Einri, patronymics from the personal names Éinrí, Einri, Irish forms of Henry. It is also found as a variant of McEnery.
Jewish (American): Americanized form of various like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish names.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=Henry
Jewish (Ashkenazic): Americanized form of a Jewish surname, spelled in various ways, derived from modern German Diamant, Demant ‘diamond’, or Yiddish dime(n)t, going back to Middle High German diemant (via Latin from Greek adamas ‘unconquerable’, genitive adamantos, a reference to the hardness of the stone). The name is mostly ornamental, one of the many Ashkenazic surnames based on mineral names, though in some cases it may have been adopted by a jeweler.
English: variant of Dayman (see Day). Forms with the excrescent d are not found before the 17th century; they are at least in part the result of folk etymology.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Diamáin ‘descendant of Diamán’, earlier Díomá or Déamán, a diminutive of Díoma, itself a pet form of Diarmaid (see McDermott).
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=Diamond
Dillard
English: unexplained; possibly a variant of Dollard. The name was in VA by 1698.Dollard
English: nickname from Middle English dull + -ard ‘dull or stupid person’. Compare Doll 5.
Irish: either an importation to Ireland of the English name or, possibly, a reduced and altered form of de la Hyde (see Dollarhide).
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?fid=10&ln=Dollard&fn=&yr=1920&
Henry
English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements haim, heim ‘home’ + ric ‘power’, ‘ruler’, introduced to England by the Normans in the form Henri. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the personal name were equally popular throughout Europe (German Heinrich, French Henri, Italian Enrico and Arrigo, Czech Jindrich, etc.). As an American family name, the English form Henry has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this ancient name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) In the period in which the majority of English surnames were formed, a common English vernacular form of the name was Harry, hence the surnames Harris (southern) and Harrison (northern). Official documents of the period normally used the Latinized form Henricus. In medieval times, English Henry absorbed an originally distinct Old English personal name that had hagan ‘hawthorn’. Compare Hain 2 as its first element, and there has also been confusion with Amery.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hInnéirghe ‘descendant of Innéirghe’, a byname based on éirghe ‘arising’.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Éinrí or Mac Einri, patronymics from the personal names Éinrí, Einri, Irish forms of Henry. It is also found as a variant of McEnery.
Jewish (American): Americanized form of various like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish names.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford
http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=Henry
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