This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Solomon,' popularly in Middle English Salamon, and with excrescent —d— Salamond (compare Simmonds and Hammond for Simmons and Hamon). These forms represent families of English descent, Solomon representing modern Jewish immigrations. Of course the London Directory has several Salamons, undoubtedly Jewish, but, speaking generally, our Salomans, Salamans, Salemans, Salmons, Salmans, Salmonds, Sammons, and Sammonds, are of English extraction, just as much as our Davies and Davidsons are (excepting when these are Welsh or Scottish).

William Salman, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

1574. Buried — Alexander Sawllmond: St. Peter, Cornhill.

1620. John Salmon and Constance Fallwell: Marriage Lic. (London).

1797. Married — William Salmond and Elizabeth Corns: St. George, Hanover Square.

Salamone was an old Scots spelling of Solomon, a once popular forename, and Salmonde (pron. Salmon) is an old surname in Perthshire still existing. The d is excrescent. Salomon, chaplain of the bishop of Glasgow, was present in curia regis at Roxburgh, 1159 (Annals, p. 40). John Sawmond was tenant of the mill of Drwmys, 1494 (Cupar-Ansus, I, p. 243). Rankinus Salmone, witness in Glasgow, 1504 (Simon, 111). George Salmont is recorded in Linlithgow, 1532 (] ohnsoun). James Salmond was a canon of Aberdeen, 1546 (LSC., p. 266). William Salmond or Salmound was subdean of Holy Trinity, Edinburgh, 1544, and prebendary there, 1565 (Soltre, p. 126,222). Robert Salmonde possessed a tenement in Glasgow, 1553 (Protocols, I). Marion Salmond was murdered in Dundee. 1562 (ER., XIX, p. 497), and John Salmain is recorded in Newtoun, 1688 (Dunkeld). ohn Salmond, burgess of Perth, 1584 (Poltalloch Writs, p. 185).

(Hebrew) for Salomon, Solomon, q.v.

(occasionally) (Teutonic) for the Old Teutonic Salaman, [apparently from O.H.Ger. salo = Old English salo, dark, tawny] (occasionally) (Anglo-French-Latin) a nickname or tradename from the fish [Old French saulmon (French saumon), Latin salmo, -onis, a salmon] (occasionally) (French-Latin or Teutonic) belonging to St. Almand or St. Amand (France).

The name Salmon was often Latinized in mediæval documents de Sancto Alemondo, implying a French ecclesiastical place-name St. Almond (cp. Almond), which apparently has been merged in St. Amand, a common French-Latin place-name which was Latinized de Sancto Amando.

In Connacht Salmon is an anglicization, by translation, of Ó Bradáin, which retains the earlier form Bradden in Donegal and Leitrim. The English name Fisher is also occasionally so used. Sammon is the variant in use in Co. Clare. Salmon is also a name of English origin, and as such it is fairly numerous in Co. Leix and north Kilkenny, where it was established in the sixteenth century. SIF 133

Though basically distinct Sammon is sometimes found as a variant of Salmon in Connacht and Clare. There Salmon is of Gaelic Irish origin, being an anglicization of Ó Bradáin, which is derived from the Irish word bradán meaning a salmon, and in Counties Donegal and Leitrim is rendered Bradden and Bradan *, and this in turn has sometimes been made Fisher in English in the Glenties district. The name Salmon is fairly numerous and is found in all the provinces. In Leinster it is mainly centred in and around Co. Leix-when Griffith's Valuation was made there were 34 Salmon householders there and 14 in the adjacent county of Offaly. In the midlands it is often of English origin: Salmon is derived as a rule from Salaman and occasionaly from the Jewish Solomon; Sammon, formerly Samon, is a corruption of Seaman, a name which is self-explanatory. The Sammons settled in Counties Kildare and Dublin before the Elizabethan influx: they are on record there at least as early as 1529. By 1659 they were so well established in Co. Kildare that Petty's enumerators ranked them as Irish in his “census”.

Some of the evidence I have found would suggest that they were not of Gaelic stock, but the fact that one Hugh Samon, a follower of Lord Howth in 1555, is described as alias MacYbradane, proves that some at least of the “lower orders”, if not the titulado class, were Gaelic.

The best known of the name was Rev. George Salmon, D.D. (1819-1904), Provost of Dublin University and distinguished mathematician.

*Footnote.)

(English) Descendant of Solomon (peaceful).

This name, though identical with the designation of a well-known fish, probably originated from another source. The manor of Salmons in Caterham, co. Surrey, is known to have belonged temp. Edw. II. to Roger Saleman. Brayley's Surrey, iv. 189. Now sel, Anglo-Saxon and salle, French signify a hall, and saleman would consequently be the attendant or keeper of a hall. The name under this orthography is common in the Hundred Bolls.

1. From Solomon. 2. From Saleman. "The manor of Salmons in Caterham co. Surrey is known to have belonged, temp. Edward III., to Roger Saleman" (Brayley's Surrey, iv. 189). The name Saleman might signify both a saleman and an attendant or keeper of a hall.

William Salmon, Normandy 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); Ralph, Raginald, Richard Salomon, 1198 (Ib.); Richard Saloman, Engl. c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

From the Old Norse, Sölmundr; from the Flemish, Salman, Salmain, Solmon; from the German, Sallmann; Scott. Salmond; in the Domesday Book, Saloman; from the French, Salmon; a personal name.