The surname "Lyall" is found early in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

and was derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

given name "Liulfr", where
ulfr
means Wolf. After the Viking settlement in Scotland name sounds would have changed. For example, "Liulfr" is pronounced 'lee-oolv-ur', but after time probably softened in pronunciation to 'lee-ooler' and then 'loo-il' and finally 'lyall' after the Old Norse "R" was dropped off the end. The Lyall Clan is a

Sept A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as ''sliocht'', meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person ...

Clan Sinclair Clan Sinclair ( gd, Clann na Ceàrda ) is a Highland Scottish clan which holds the lands of Caithness, the Orkney Islands, and the Lothians. The chiefs of the clan were the Barons of Roslin and later the Earls of Orkney and Earls of Caithness. Th ...

a Highland Scottish clan of

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

origin a people descended from Norse

Vikings Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and ...

who held lands in the north of Scotland, the Orkney Islands, and the Lothians. Notable people with the surname Lyall include: *

Alfred Comyn Lyall Sir Alfred Comyn Lyall (4 January 1835 – 10 April 1911) was a British civil servant, literary historian and poet. Early life He was born at Coulsdon in Surrey, the second son of Alfred Lyall and Mary Drummond Broadwood, daughter of James S ...

(1835–1911), British civil servant and poet *

Bill Lyall William Lyall (born 1941 in Fort Ross - 28 December 2021), known as Bill Lyall, of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada, was a territorial politician. Lyall was elected to the 8th Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly in the 1975 election. Lyal ...

(born 1941), Canadian politician *

Billy Lyall William Lyall (26 March 1953 – 1 December 1989) was a Scottish musician, known for his work with Pilot, The Alan Parsons Project, and the Bay City Rollers. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Lyall was a singer, keyboard player and flautist with ...

(1953–1989), Scottish musician with the band Pilot * Charles James Lyall (1845–1920), English civil servant working in India * Charles Ross Lyall (1880–1950), British career soldier and cricketer * David Lyall (1817–1895), Scottish botanist *

Gavin Lyall Gavin Tudor Lyall (9 May 1932 – 18 January 2003) was an English author of Spy fiction, espionage thrillers. Biography Lyall was born in Birmingham, then in Warwickshire (now West Midlands (county), West Midlands), England, as the son of a loc ...

(1932–2003), English author of espionage novels * Geoffrey Lyall (born 1949), bass player for the

Dead Kennedys Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run. Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing p ...

* George Lyall Sr. (1779–1853), Chairman of the Honourable East India Company * Graeme Lyall (born 1942), Australian musician, composer and arranger * James Lyall (minister) (1827–1905), Presbyterian minister in South Australia. *

James Broadwood Lyall Sir James Broadwood Lyall (4 March 1838 – 4 December 1916) was a British administrator in the Imperial Civil Service who served as Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab between 1887 and 1892. Background James Lyall was born on 4 March 1838. He w ...

(1838–1916), administrator in the Indian Civil Service, brother of Sir Alfred *

John Edwardes Lyall John Edwardes Lyall (1811 – 6 December 1845) was a British lawyer who was Advocate-General of Bengal. He was born the eldest son of George Lyall, Member of Parliament for the City of London and was educated at Eton College. His brother was Geo ...

(1811–1845), British lawyer, Advocate-General of Bengal, son of George Lyall *

Laura Muntz Lyall Laura Muntz Lyall (June 18, 1860 – December 9, 1930) was a Canadian Impressionist painter, known for her sympathetic portrayal of women and children. Life and work Laura Adeline Muntz was born at Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, Engla ...

(1860–1930), Canadian impressionist painter * Paul Lyall (1944–2021), British para table tennis player *

Sarah Lyall Sarah Lambert Lyall is an American journalist who has worked for ''The New York Times'', including an 18-year period as the title's London correspondent. Biography Raised in New York City, Lyall attended the Chapin School and is a graduate of Phi ...

(born c. 1963), American journalist in England * William Lyall (disambiguation)

See also