Hamilton

An Irish surname of Antrim. In the 2010 US census it was carried by 201,746 people, the 119th most common surname in the country.

Hamilton is the anglicised form of four distinct Irish names. Some you can hear in the English name; others look and sound nothing like it, and were simply swapped for it.

de Hamaltún

Hamaltún

Ó Hamailltín

Ó Hurmoltaigh

Where the name comes from

de Hamaltún is of Hambledon or Hambleton, the name of several parishes in England, or of Hamilton in Scotland. The Hamiltons came over in large numbers from Scotland at the time of the plantation of Ulster.

Two more names hide under it as well: Ó hAmailltín, in use in West Clare, and Ó hUrmoltaigh, a rare surname in south-west Cork.

The Giant's Causeway at twilight with wet hexagonal basalt columns stretching to the sea and long exposure blurred waves
The Giant's Causeway, Co. Antrim

Antrim, photographed

Photographs made in Antrim.

Antrim

The Antrim coast road runs about 25 miles between the cliffs and the sea, with nine glens coming down to it. The rock is basalt, the same flow that formed the Giant's Causeway. Scotland is 12 miles off at the narrowest point and visible on a clear day.

The iconic Dark Hedges beech tree tunnel near Armoy in County Antrim with intertwined branches forming a brooding canopyThe Dark Hedges, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Long exposure of Pan's Rock with its footbridge at dawn on the Antrim Causeway Coast, silky water and blurred clouds, Rathlin Island on the horizonPan's Rock, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunrise over Colliery Bay with Fair Head cliffs and mountains, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxColliery Bay & Fair Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Dunluce Castle on coastal cliffs with long exposure sea, Co. Antrim, fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxDunluce Castle, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Black and white photograph of a rainstorm sweeping across the Skerries islands off the North Antrim coast near PortrushRainstorm, the Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunset over Bengore Head with waves rolling over rocks, Co. Antrim, Ireland — fine art landscape photograph by Peter CoxBengore Head, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim Sunset over the Skerries coast in County Antrim with warm light reflecting on wet sand and rock formationsThe Skerries, Co. Antrim Co. Antrim

All Antrim prints

Notable bearers

Lewis Hamilton (born 1985), racing automobile driver and Formula One driver.

Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804), writer, politician, and lawyer.

William Rowan Hamilton (1805-1865), university teacher, physicist, and mathematician.

Linda Hamilton (born 1956), actor.

Margaret Hamilton (born 1936), businessperson, engineer, and mathematician.

This name is borne widely in Britain as well as Ireland. What follows is where it was found in Ireland, not a claim that every family carrying it came from here.

About this page

The counties on this page are where the name was thickest on the ground in Ireland a century and a half ago, not a claim about any one family. Names moved around inside the country as much as they left it. The photographs are mine, made in the counties named.

More Irish surnames: Smith · Brown · Miller · Wilson · Anderson · Thomas · Taylor · Moore · Jackson · Martin · Lee · Thompson

How common the name was

In 1890, 167 births were registered under Hamilton in Ireland, most of them in Antrim, Down, Londonderry, and Tyrone.

Ulster 143
Leinster 10
Munster 8
Connacht 6
Ireland 167

Down, Londonderry, and Tyrone are the ones I haven't worked in.