Ormond or Ormand is an old surname, originated in Ireland (Ormonde) and Scotland (Ormond), but also occurring in England, Wales, Australia, New Zealand, United States, Portugal (mainly in Azores, as a variation of the scottish surname Drummond) and Brazil.
The Irish surname derives from the Irish toponym Oirmhumhain 'East Munster' and was a hereditary title within the Irish aristocracy.
However, the Scottish Ormonds originate from the county of Angus, where the Douglas family held the title of earl of Ormond, deriving from their ownership of Ormond Castle in Avoch, on the Black Isle in the Scottish Highlands. The Ormond surname is rumoured to have been taken up by an illegitimate son of the earl in the 15th or 16th century. The earliest Ormond in Angus to feature on the parish records is Elspit Ormond, born 1617 in Monikie, the daughter of James Ormond.
There is also an Ormond family in Pembrokeshire, Wales, which is of great antiquity. David Ormond is the first recorded Ormond in Pembrokeshire, who was a church rector recorded in Narberth in 1386, Pembroke in 1397 and Manorbier in 1415. The National Archives hold the will of Owen Ormond of Pembrokeshire, which was written in 1610, and he is listed owning land in Wolffdale, Pembrokeshire, listed in 1580 in a Grant by Sir John Perrot of Haroldston, in the County of Pembroke, Knight. Their origin in Wales likely was connected to the Flemish Marches, being English in the South of Wales, coming to England originally with the Norman Conquest as mercenary soldiers under William of Normandy in the 11th Century. This Ormond family may have originated as "Ormont," meaning "gold mountain." Some family traditions claim the family was a merchant family originally from the "Ormont-Dessous" region of Switzerland, going to Flanders in the 5th or 6th Centuries, although there is no written evidence of this beyond their 11th Century origin in Flanders and their relation to the Norman Conquest of England.
The name can vary in spelling in old texts (as is typical of the English language generally). However the spelling Ormond is specific to the earldom, while Ormonde with an e is specific to the dukedom.[1]
In Portugal, the surname traces back to Sir John Drummond, son of Sir John Drummond of Carghill and Stobhall, who left Scotland in 1418, set off for France and from there to the kingdom of Granada (Spain) to fight against the moors, and later he set off for the island of Madeira (Portugal).[2] [3] Francisco Ferreira Drummond (b. Madeira, 1580, d. Azores, 1615) migrated to the island of Terceira in the Azores archipelago (Portugal), where he established his residence in Ribeira Seca, part of the town of S. Sebastião. From this date onwards, the surname Drummond undergoes various corruptions, such as 'Armond' and 'de Ormonde', eventually consolidating into the form 'Ormond' in Brazil. The oldest record would be of 1691 (Manuel Machado Ormonde).[4] Their descendants also emigrated mainly to Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) and California (USA).