Gall Family History

Scottish, Welsh, and Irish: nickname from Celtic gall ‘foreigner, stranger’, a word found in Irish Gaelic and Breton. In the Scottish Highlands, the Gaelic term gall was applied to people from the English-speaking lowlands and to Scandinavians; in Ireland, the same term was applied to settlers who arrived from Wales and England in the wake of the Anglo-Norman invasion of the 12th century.

This surname is also found at an early date in Lincolnshire, where it apparently has a Breton origin (compare 4 below and Legall), having been introduced by Breton followers of the Norman Conquerors. English (of Norman origin): variant of Gale.

French, German, Danish, Polish, and Czech; Slovak (mainly Gáll); Hungarian (Gáll): from the Latin personal name Gallus, originally a Roman surname meaning ‘Gaul’ or ‘rooster’ (see Gallo). The name was widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages, largely due to the cult of a 7th-century Irish monk and missionary, Saint Gall.

Saint Gall, whose name Latinized as Gallus is presumably of Celtic origin (see 1 above), established a Christian settlement to the south of Lake Constance, which became the monastery later known as St. Gallen. The Latin(ized) name Gallus was taken into Czech as Havel, into Polish as Gaweł (see Gawel), into Slovak and Hungarian as Gál (see Gal), and into Slovenian and Croatian as Gal.

Breton (mainly Finistère; mainly Le Gall): cognate of 1 above; see Legall. It may, however, also be a cognate of 3 above, especially when not formed with the French masculine definite article le.