An excerpt from www.HouseOfNames.com archives copyright © 2000 - 2016
This Brythonic Celtic surname comes from the personal name Danet. This name is formed through the addition of the diminutive prefix -et to Dan, which is a pet form of the personal name Daniel. The initial D of the name was often sharpened to T, giving rise to the surname Tannahill.
The surname Tannahill was first found in Shropshire, where they held a family seat as Lords of the Manor of Abertanat. This Welsh English border family claim direct descent from the great Einion Efell, Lord of Cynllathe in Denbighland, North Wales. Abertanat was a territory in Powys Fadog which was previously ruled by Owen Brongyntyn. Today, Afon Tanat (River Tanat) is a river in northern Powys, Wales. The Tanat Valley Light Railway (TVLR) was a 15-mile (24 km) long standard gauge light railway connecting Llangynog with Blodwel in Wales that was opened in 1903 and closed in January 1964.
There are relatively few surnames native to Wales, but they have an inordinately large number of spelling variations. Early variations of Welsh surnames can be explained by the fact that very few people in the early Middle Ages were literate. Priests and the few other literate people were responsible for recording names in official documents. And because most people could not specific how to properly record their names it was up to the individual recorder of that time to determine how a spoken name should be recorded. Variations due to the imprecise or improper recording of a name continued later in history when names originally composed in the Brythonic Celtic, language of Wales, known by natives as Cymraeg, were transliterated into English. Welsh names that were documented in English often changed dramatically since the native language of Wales, which was highly inflected, did not copy well. Occasionally, however, spelling variations were carried out according to an individual's specific design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations could be indicated by minor variations. The spelling variations of the name Tannahill have included Tanat, Tannat, Tanet, Tanett, Tanatt, Tannatt and many more.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tannahill research. Another 201 words (14 lines of text) covering the years 115 and 1150 are included under the topic Early Tannahill History in all our PDF Extended History products.
More information is included under the topic Early Tannahill Notables in all our PDF Extended History products.
North America in the 1800s and 1900s saw the arrival of many Welsh people hoping to share in the wealth of land, work, and freedom that they felt North America held. Those who made the journey often attained those expectations, but only through an enormous amount of hard work, perseverance, and often a bout of good luck. These immigrants helped contribute to the growth of industry, commerce, and culture of both Canada and the United States. Discovered in the immigration and passenger lists were a number of people bearing the name Tannahill:
Tannahill Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
Tannahill Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
Tannahill Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
Tannahill Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century
The Tannahill Family Crest was acquired from the Houseofnames.com archives. The Tannahill Family Crest was drawn according to heraldic standards based on published blazons. We generally include the oldest published family crest once associated with each surname.
This page was last modified on 14 May 2015 at 11:37.