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Surname Etymology and Meaning of CAMPBELL

Name meanings and etymologies are often disputed. The information here is compiled from freely available sources, and no claims whatsoever are made for accuracy, either historical or etymological.

(origin: Celtic and Gaelic.) Wry-mouth, the man whose mouth inclined a little on one side; from cam, crooked, distorted, and beul, the mouth. This ancient family may be traced as far back as the beginning of the fifth century, and is said to have been possessed of Lochore, in Argyleshire, as early as the time of Fergus II. Sir Colin Campbell, of Lochore, flourished toward the end of the thirteenth century, and was called Sir Colin More, or Colin the Great. His descendants were called by the Irish McCallen, that is, the descendants of Colin.

Source: An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names With an Essay on their Derivation and Import (1857).

1. Scottish: nickname from Gaelic cam ‘crooked’, ‘bent’ + beul ‘mouth’. The surname was often represented in Latin documents as de bello campo ‘of the fair field’, which led to the name sometimes being ‘translated’ into Anglo-Norman French as Beauchamp.
2. In New England documents, Campbell sometimes occurs as a representation of the French name Hamel.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names (2003)