This name is of Scottish locational origin from a place thus called in the former county of Ayrshire now part of Ayrshire (now part of Strathclyde). The name is believed to derive from the Gaelic elements 'dail' meaning 'territory' 'croim', crooked , plus 'puill', a stream. Hence, 'the territory of the crooked stream'. The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter half of the 14th century. C. 1390 one James of Dalrymple witnessed a charter by Robert, Earl of Fife and a John de Dalrympil was provost of Edinburgh in 1392. A Scots prisoner of war, Gilbert of Dalrympille, was released from the Tower of London in 1413. Sir John Dalrymple (1648-1707) held the title first Earl of Stair (1703). He was the King's advocate (1686-88). In the Muster Rolls of the Scots Guards in France, the name appears as de Romple. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Adam de Dalrympil which was dated 1371 Land Charters of Barony of Dalrymple during the reign of Robert II of Scotland, House of Stuart 1371-90 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.