Popularity of the last name by country

Back

Finland

All countries

Origine of last name

GALL : 1: 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 <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Legall">Legall</a>) having been introduced by Breton followers of the Norman Conquerors.2: English (of Norman origin): variant of <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Gale">Gale</a>.3: 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 <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Gallo">Gallo</a> 2). The name was widespread in Europe during the Middle Ages in central Europe largelly due to the cult of a 7th-century Irish monk and missionary Saint Gall whose name Latinized as Gallus is presumably of Celtic origin (see 1 above). Among other things Saint Gall 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 <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Havel">Havel</a> into Polish as Gaweł (see <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Gawel">Gawel</a>) into Slovak and Hungarian as Gál (see <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Gal">Gal</a>) and into Slovenian and Croatian as <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Gal">Gal</a>.4: Breton (mainly Finistère; mainly Le Gall): cognate of 1 above; see <a href="https://en.geneanet.org/surnames/Legall">Legall</a>. It may however also be a cognate of 3 above especially when not formed with the French masculine definite article le.

Learn more