NIMMO: You've probably already seen this, but "A Dictionary of Surnames" by Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges says the origin is unknown but the earliest forms probably belong to "NEWMOCH" (1459), "NEMOCH" (1490), and "NEMOK" (1587). Forms with -i- are not found before the 17th century. It lists NEMO & NEMMOCK as variants. None of my other 7 books even mentions the name in any of its variations. Barbara Joshua Nimocks wrote: >I am looking for origin information on Nimmo/Nimocks. I'm not sure >how much anyone will be able to help me. > >It's a Scottish surname, at least as far back as the 1400's, and I've >already seen the entry in George Black's Surnames of Scotland. The >perplexing thing is that some reference books claim the two to be >from "Newmoch," which then became Nemoch (the earliest confirmed >variant, which appears throughout the Old Parish registers near the >end of the 1500s), and the "Nimmo" variant dropping the "ch"/"k" sound >at the end. However, I've done some extensive searching through the >books of the Scottish Historic Society's series and the Historical >Manuscripts commission. An "Alexander Nemo" appears in Wigtownshire >in Galloway in 1432, whereas the first Newmoch - John Newmoch - >appears in West Lothian near Edinburgh in 1459. So, I am now >extremely skeptical of at least a Newmoch-Nimmo connection. > >More recently, I've come to believe that perhaps it's related to the >Irish surname Nimmogh/Nemmaugh. That is, perhaps a more ancient form >was Nimmach, which became Nimmogh in Ireland, Nemoch in Scotland but >also Nemo... Some areas would change the "ach" sound to a >softer "augh," thus becoming "o" as in "dough." My own Nemock >ancestors lived in Ayrshire: there was extensive settling between >Northern Ireland and the western coast as all Highland historians >know, but this occurred even as far south as Ayrshire and Galloway. > >Anyways, if everyone could just take a quick glance through their >books for Nimmo, Nemo, Nimmock, Nemoch, or even Nimmogh/Nemmaugh, I'd >appreciate it. As you can see there are many variants, but they >should also be relatively close together, alphabetically. > >Thanks! >Josh Nimocks > > >============================== >To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: >http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > > > >