This most interesting surname is of Old French origin, and is a locational name from Aumale in Seine-Inferieure, France, which was earlier recorded as "Alba Margila", white border, boundary. The surname itself contains the French preposition "de", of a place, which has become fused with the actual placename to form the surname. The fuller form is preserved in the title of the Duke of Albermarle. In England the place Hinton Admiral in Hampshire preserves the surname without the preposition, and was held by Reginald de Albamara in 1242 and by William de Fortibus, Count of Aumale in the 12th Century. Admiral itself is due to popular folk etymology. The surname is one of the earliest on record as it first appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 (see below). Variants of the surname in the modern idiom are Damerell, Damiral, Dammarell, Damrel, and Damrell. Other early examples include Robert de Albermarle in the Domesday Book of Devonshire in 1086; Reginald de Aumarle in the Assize Court Rolls of Somerset in 1243; and Thomas Damarell in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1568. A Coat of Arms, depicting three gold crescents on a red shield, was granted during the reign of Edward 11 (1307 - 1327) to a Damarell family in Devonshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Alba Marula, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Devonshire, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1086. 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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