This interesting surname of English origin is derived from the Old Norse byname Gamall meaning "Old" which surprisingly enough, was occasionally used in Northern England during the Middle Ages as a given name. The name is recorded as Gamel in the Domesday Book of 1086. The surname dates back to the early 13th Century, (see below). Further recordings include one Adam Gamel (1260), witness, "The Assize Rolls of Yorkshire", and Jordan Gambel (1297) "The Ministers' Accounts of the Earldom of Cornwall". Variations in the idiom of the spelling include Gammell, Gamil, Gamell, etc.. One, Thomas Gamell married Lucie Hope on January 8th 1602, at St. Mary Abchurch, London. Roberte Gammell married Elizabeth Walker at St. Andrew by the Wardrobe, London on November 18th 1610, and Ellinor, daughter of Thomas Gamwell, was christened at Mary Adchurch, London on February 12th 1627. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Simon Gamel, witness, which was dated 1202, in the "Assize Rolls of Lincolnshire", during the reign of King John, known as "Lackland", 1199 - 1216. 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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