Gilmore
An Irish and Scottish surname meaning “servant of Mary” or, in some traditions, “great servant.”
The #714 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 6,337 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is usually explained from Gaelic Giolla Mhuire, meaning “servant of Mary,” the saint’s name form that also lies behind related surnames such as Gilmour. Some older writers also associated it with French forms and with the surname Gillmore, but the Gaelic explanation is the standard one in the historical sources. The name is built from giolla, “servant” or “follower,” plus Muire/Mary.
History
The name appears in Irish and Scottish records in several spellings, including Gilmour and Gilmer, and was especially noted by 19th- and early-20th-century surname scholars as an Irish form. In some English sources it was also treated as a local or variant form of Gillmore, showing how the spellings overlapped over time. The surname spread beyond Ireland and Scotland through migration, especially to North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname writers sometimes grouped Gilmore with a whole family of “Gill-” names meaning a servant or devotee of a saint, such as Gilchrist, Gilpatrick, and Gilmory.
From the historical record
“See Gillniore. GILMORE. See Gillmore. Gael. The Servant of it. from the Fr. surname, ViUema'ut, which latter he (iucorreotly) makes a climinutivc of Guillaume, William. Mr. A. states that " the Gillmans are said to have come from the province of Maiuc, with William the Conqueror, and to have settled iii Essex." See…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom