# Gill (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/gill/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A Scottish and Northern English habitational surname from Old Norse for someone who lived near a gill.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Norse |
| Type | place, taken from where an ancestor lived or came from |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 74,948 |
| US rank (2010) | 435 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 4,119 people |
| Change since 2000 | +9.1% (68,699 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈd͡ʒɪl/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, converged from variants of Giles (sometimes through Dutch), Julian, and William. * As a northern English surname, from Middle English gil (“ravine, glen”), from Old Norse gil. The Old Norse is also a source of the Norwegian surname. * As an Irish and Scottish Gaelic surname, variant of McGill. * Also as an Irish surname, variant of Gall. * As a Jewish/Israeli given name, as well as surname, from Hebrew גיל (“joy”). * As a German surname, variant of Gilger. * As a Sikh Punjabi surname originating in India, from ਗਿੱਲ (gill, “moisture”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Gill in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 65% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 14% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 13% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.6% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Gill in the United States, the United Kingdom and Belize.

## People named Gill

- Theodore Nicholas Gill, American biologist (1837–1914)
- Vince Gill, American country musician
- Mandip Gill, British actress
- Michel Gill, American actor
- Kendall Gill, British basketball player
- Johnny Gill, American R&B singer-songwriter and actor (born 1966)
- James Gill, American painter (born 1934)
- Hal Gill, American ice hockey player
- Frank Gill, American ornithologist
- Thomas Gill, American politician (1922–2009)
- Shaun Gill, Belizean sprinter
- Madge Gill, British artist (1882-1961)

and 8 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Gil, Gilley, Gile, Geil, Gillie, Gille, Gall, Goll, Guill, Gull, Galloway, Gallo.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.