This unusual name is a contracted form of the Irish surname "MacDermott", and is found mainly on the Isle of Man and in Connaught. The name "Dermott" is the Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name "Difharmait", which is composed of the separative prefix "di", with "farmat", envy, and means "free from envy". In Celtic legends this was the name of the lover of Grainne, while another famous historical character to bear the name was Diarmaid Mac Murchada, the 12th Century King of Leinster whose appeal to the English for support led directly to the Anglo-Norman invasion of Ireland. The Mac Dermotts in Ireland are one of the few septs whose head is an authentic chieftain, entitled to be called "The MacDermott". The variant form "Kermode" arises from the sound of the name with the initial "D" in the Irish "MacDiarmada" being aspirated. One Henry Kermode married Catherine Keaney at Malew on the Isle of Man on the June 24th 1684. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Mac Kermott, which was dated 1430, in the "Early Manx Records", during the reign of King Henry V1, known as "The Founder of Eton", 1422 - 1461. 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.

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