Dalziel, Dalzell, Dezell, or Dalyell ( ) is a
Scottish surname
In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full name of a person, although several give ...
.
Pronunciation
The unintuitive spelling of the name is due to it being an
anglicisation
Anglicisation or anglicization is a form of cultural assimilation whereby something non-English becomes assimilated into or influenced by the culture of England. It can be sociocultural, in which a non-English place adopts the English language ...
of
Scottish Gaelic
Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...
, meaning 'bright dale'. The sound now spelled with a or is historically a
lenited slender , which in Gaelic is pronounced
(like English ). The English/
Scots form of the name was originally spelled with a
yogh
The letter yogh (ȝogh) ( ; Scots: ; Middle English: ) is a Latin script letter that was used in Middle English and Older Scots, representing ''y'' () and various velar phonemes. It was derived from the Insular form of the letter ''g'', Ᵹ ...
() as ''Dalȝiel''; this was later replaced with either a , the letter of the modern alphabet which most looks like yogh, or a , which more closely represents the sound.
History
The name originates from the former
barony Barony may refer to:
* Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron
* Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron
* Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...
of
Dalzell in
Lanarkshire
Lanarkshire, also called the County of Lanark (; ), is a Counties of Scotland, historic county, Lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the Central Lowlands and Southern Uplands of Scotland. The county is no l ...
, in the area now occupied by
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
. The name Dalzell is first recorded in 1259, and Thomas de Dalzell fought at
Bannockburn. The Dalzell lands were forfeited later in the 14th century, but regained through marriage in the 15th. Sir Robert Dalzell was created Lord Dalzell in 1628, and his son was further elevated in the
peerage
A peerage is a legal system historically comprising various hereditary titles (and sometimes Life peer, non-hereditary titles) in a number of countries, and composed of assorted Imperial, royal and noble ranks, noble ranks.
Peerages include:
A ...
as
Earl of Carnwath, in 1639. In 1645 the Dalzell estates were sold to the
Hamiltons of Orbiston, who held them until the 20th century. Scottish emigration has dispersed the Dalziel family across the English-speaking world.
The Dalziel
coat of arms
A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...
is ''
sable
The sable (''Martes zibellina'') is a species of marten, a small omnivorous mammal primarily inhabiting the forest environments of Russia, from the Ural Mountains throughout Siberia, and northern Mongolia. Its habitat also borders eastern Kaz ...
, a man's body proper'', i.e. the flesh-coloured silhouette of a man against a black background. The origin of this peculiar arms was written about by
Sir Robert Douglas, 6th Baronet, in 1764:
People
People with this surname include:
Dalyell
*
Dalyell baronets
* Sir
John Graham Dalyell (1775–1851), Scottish antiquary and naturalist
*
Tam Dalyell of the Binns (1615–1685), Scottish General, also spelled Dalzell or Dalziel
*
Tam Dalyell (1932–2017), British Labour politician
*
Elsie Dalyell (1881–1948), Australian pathologist
Dalzell
*
John Dalzell (1845–1927), U.S. Representative
*
Rick Dalzell (born 1957), American businessman
*
Sammy Dalzell (1933–1977), Olympic weightlifter (Northern Ireland)
*
Stewart Dalzell (1943–2019), American judge
Dalziel
*
Bobby Dalziel, Scottish footballer
*
Brothers Dalziel, a firm of Victorian engravers founded in 1839 by George and Edward Dalziel, and assisted by John and Thomas Dalziel (see below)
*
Charles Dalziel (1904–1986), American professor of engineering
*
Dale Dalziel, American curler
*
David Dalziel MM, KOSB Hero in the Korean War
*
Davison Dalziel, 1st Baron Dalziel of Wooler (1852–1928), Scottish businessman and Conservative politician
*
Diana Vreeland (1903–1989), born Diana Dalziel, noted fashion magazine editor
*
Gordon Dalziel (born 1962), former Scottish footballer and manager
*
Henry Dalziel (1893–1965), Australian war hero
*
Henry Dalziel, 1st Baron Dalziel of Kirkcaldy (1868–1935), Scottish Liberal politician
*
Ian Dalziel (disambiguation)
*
John Dalziel, Scottish rugby union coach
*
John McEwan Dalziel (1872–1948), British doctor and botanist
*
Kathleen Dalziel (1881–1969), Australian poet
*
Keith Dalziel (1921–1994), Biochemist and Fellow of The Royal Society
*
Lianne Dalziel (born 1960), Mayor of Christchurch, New Zealand
*
Peter Dalziel (born 1960), one of the first Chartered Fellows of the Chartered institute of Management, UK
*
Margaret Dalziel, academic at the University of Otago, New Zealand
*
Raewyn Dalziel, New Zealand historian
*
Ryan Dalziel (born 1982), British racing driver
*
Stuart Dalziel (born 1963), British and New Zealand fluid dynamicist
*
Thomas Dalziel (1823–1906), engraver
Dezell
* Clifford Dezell (1946 - ), Former Alderman and City Councillor of
Prince George
Fictional people
* Andrew Dalziel, fictitious detective in literature and television, part of the team
Dalziel and Pascoe created by
Reginald Hill.
* Royce Varisey, tenth Duke of Wolverstone went by the codename 'Dalziel' (his mother's family name) throughout the Napoleonic Wars in the Bastion Club series of romance novels by
Stephanie Laurens.
People with the given name
*
Dalziel Hammick (1887–1966), British chemist
Other uses
Motherwell
Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...
still contains Dalziel Parish, a congregation of the
Church of Scotland
The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...
, as well as the Dalzell Steelworks, now owned by Liberty House. The estate of
Dalziel House, the former home of the
Baron Hamilton of Dalzell, is now a country park on the south side of the town.
Dalziel Rugby Club play at
Dalziel Park in nearby
Carfin
Carfin (Scottish Gaelic: ''An Càrn Fionn'', meaning the White Cairn) is a village situated to the north-east of Motherwell, Scotland. Most local amenities are shared with the adjacent villages of Holytown, Newarthill and New Stevenston which ...
. The name is also used by several Motherwell-based institutions, including
Dalziel High School and the former Dalziel Co-operative Society.
Dalziel Park Stadium was a nineteenth-century football stadium that was the home of the town's football team
Motherwell F.C.
See also
*
Dalzell (disambiguation)
References
External links
Dalziel - the name the placeDalziel.com
{{surname, Dalziel
Surnames
Surnames of Scottish origin
Anglicised Scottish Gaelic-language surnames
Surnames of Lowland Scottish origin