Camamile

This name, with variant spellings Camamile, Camamill, Cammomile, Cammiemile etc., derives from the Medieval English and Old French "Camomille", the name of an aromatic plant the leaves of which are used medicinally. The ultimate origin of the word is the Greek "Rhamaimelon" meaning "earth apple", so called from the apple-like smell of it's blossoms. The surname originated either as a metonymic occupational name or as a nickname for someone who grew or supplied the flower for medicinal purposes, and is particularly well recorded in church registers of North East England from the early 17th Century, (see below). On September 9th 1660, Edward Camamill and Ann Banes were married in Hayton, Nottinghamshire, and on January 24th 1685, Elizabeth Cammomile married a William Dickinson in St. Mary le Wigford, Lincolnshire. Two further marriages include that of Sarah Cammiemile to John Plumer on November 28th 1686, at All Saints, South Leverton, (Nottinghamshire), and the marriage of John Cammomile and Elizabeth Harding at Cawood, Yorkshire, on September 9th 1778. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Anis Camamile, (marriage to John Clarke), which was dated November 5th 1621, Marnham, Nottinghamshire, during the reign of King James 1st of England and V1 of Scotland. 1603 - 1625. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.