Arneil as a surname ?
I came across a tree online that featured an Ann O’Neil as a child born to John O’Neil and Sarah Cassidy (one that I had not known of before but that fitted well in a space between known births for this couple) I tried looking for this Ann Neil or O’Neil on Scotland’s People and could not find anything. I eventually found it indexed as Arneil.
I think it is easy to imagine a broad Irish accent saying the name O’Neil and a non-Irish ear hearing Arneil but it never would have crossed my mind to use it as a possible search term. But how common was this. A search of Arneils in Scotland’s People in the statutory births returned nineteen children.
| Surname | Forename | Mother's MS | Year | Ref | RD Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ARNEIL | ANN | GEDDES | 1860 | 561 / 23 | Eaglesham |
| ARNEIL | ANN | GRANT | 1865 | 644 / 4 / 1017 | Calton (Glasgow) |
| ARNEIL | ANN | CASSIDY | 1865 | 644 / 10 / 639 | Hutchesontown |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE BUCHANAN | BUCHANAN | 1876 | 644 / 6 / 1609 | St Rollox |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE | MCCORKINDALE | 1885 | 573 / 2208 | Paisley |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE DICKSON | BOYES | 1891 | 649 / 21 | Lesmahagow |
| ARNEIL | SARAH ANN CRAWF | 1894 | 629 / 201 | Carluke | |
| ARNEIL | ANNABELLA | 1894 | 644 / 12 / 1328 | Gorbals | |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE | NIMMO | 1914 | 633 / A / 38 | Carstairs |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE | 1921 | 573 / 1 / 1218 | Paisley | |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE MCINNES | 1923 | 644 / 16 / 828 | Govanhill | |
| ARNEIL | CATHERINE ANN | 1946 | 644 / 5 / 508 | Springburn | |
| ARNEIL | ANNIE | 1948 | 644 / 4 / 113 | Provan | |
| ARNEIL | ANNE MCK F | 1950 | 485 / B / 684 | Logie (Stirling) | |
| ARNEIL | MARY ANNE | 1954 | 594 / 107 | Girvan | |
| ARNEIL | ANN VIVIEN | 1957 | 424 / 637 | Dunfermline | |
| ARNEIL | ANNE | 1971 | 644 / 9 / 1090 | Glasgow | |
| ARNEIL | DEBORAH ANNETTE | 1973 | 738 / 277 | George Square | |
| ARNEIL | AMELIA ANNIE | 2022 | 509 / 141 | NORTH LANARKSHIRE (NORTH) |
It is odd that, where a mother’s maiden name is mentioned, there is no mother who has more than one child with the surname Arneil. This sounds to me as if the name lives in the ear of the recorder of the birth only. It would be interesting to know the names of the registrars. In our case the register entry was:
Were all of these a result of a mis-hearing of the name O’Neil? A search of the internet suggested a possible Arnel surname but this didn’t seem related.