What is the origins of my surname Hemphill?

Question:I live in west Scotland near Port Glasgow which seems to have a lot of Hemphills for such a small toon

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I live in west Scotland near Port Glasgow which seems to have a lot of Hemphills for such a small toon

Hemphill

Northern Irish, originally Scottish: habitational name from a place near Galston in Ayrshire, apparently so named from Old English henep ‘hemp’ + hyll ‘hill’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4

That is what it means; as to why there are so many of them, you'd have to dig into the history of the town.

Im guessing it has summit to do with your ancestors who became friends with a chap called Phill
, and wen ever they were out and about ppl wud ask who is that friend of yours ,
they would say with an accent 'He me Phill'

Your ancestors were all cannabis growers and they grew it on hilly fields.

English, Irish, and Scottish surnames sometimes come from things around where they live. I would bet that somewhere in the past there was a hill that had hemp on it somewhere close to the town. So, anyone that lived in close proximity would have been known as Hemphill as that would discribe where they live.

Now if I could only figure out McCurry.

Since your question has been answered already - a little more information, just out of interest!

There is a regular little nest of you in that area!
Over 200 in the whole UK;
66 in the whole of Refrewshire over the age of 18
45 in Port Glasgow over the age of 18

The etymology and history of names.

http://www.behindthename.com/

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages...

http://www.gov.im/mnh/heritage/library/p...

http://www.alphadictionary.com/directory...

http://www.word2word.com/name.html

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/names.htm...

http://www.adorablenames.com/

Good luck.

they would say with an accent 'He me Philes