Origin of the Name Dalrymple

The surname Dalrymple originates from an area of Scotland that forms a part of the current county of Ayrshire. Part of this area became the historic lands of Dalrymple clan.

The origin of the name Dalrymple is obscure, as is typical with a lot of ancient surnames, but there are three explanations that are common circulation.

One version relates the name to the site of an battle between Fergus and Coilus, who were two ancient kings who fought a battle and died in the valley. The name Dalrymple is thought to be a corruption of the Gaelic phrases dale roi milleadh or dal-ry-mole which can be roughly translated into English as valley of the slaughter of the kings

An alternative version derives the name from valley of the crooked pool, which is derived either from the Gaelic dail tromimh or dal-a-chrumpuill or the Welsh dol rhim pwll. This derivative is related to a description of the geography of the area.

Some doubts exist over these two version of the origin of the name, since it seems that Gaelic may have been used only to a limited extent in this region.

A third alternative is dahl hrympel which is derived from the Saxon and is a geographical description of the shape of the valley.

Various spellings of the name occur including:
Dalrymple, Dalrympel, Dalrimpel, Dalrimple, Dalremple