This unusual name is of Scottish origin, and is a locational surname deriving from the lands of Dalgarnock in Dumfriesshire, although the old family of Dalgarno of that Ilk were based in Aberdeenshire. The name is thought to mean "the cultivated field, land", or "the garden land", from the Gaelic "dail", field, and "gairneoireacht", horticulture. There have been a number of variant spellings of the surname recorded since the 15th Century, among them Dalgarnowch (1417), Dalgarnocht (1571), Dilgarno (1623) and Dalgardno (1627). There is a record of the misfortune suffered by one Adam de Dalgarnok, an Aberdeen merchant, in 1370, when his goods were "plundered" by the English, contained in the Public Records Office for Scotland. Alexander Dalgarno was a canon of the cathedral of Machar, Aberdeen, in 1386. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Dalgarnoc, which was dated 1262, in the "Papal Registers referring to Great Britain and Ireland", during the reign of King Alexander 111, known as "The King of Scotland", 1249 - 1286. 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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