My family history research started in the 1970's from an interest in the origins of my second given name Walter. I was told that this name was passed down through many generations of the Hammond family, but like most family folklore it turned out not to be the case. (only 3 generations)

After making slow but steady progress in the pre-internet days  through visiting many of the core data repositories, my research stalled on the borders of Hertfordshire and Essex , with my Hammond family back in the mid 18th Century. The regular occurrence of  "Ham~ond"  in the parish registers was noticed, and at the time not considered significant.

Many years later, by complete chance, a fellow genealogist got in touch, and the Hamond family research he had undertaken aided by the abundance of scanned online parish registers opened up a whole new line of my ancestors back to the parish of Westmill in Hertfordshire.

A concentration of several Hamond families in the Westmill parish registers from the 16th/17th century prompted me to join the Guild in December 2019 to help unravel the tangled web and to try and explore the possible origins of the Hamond name. 

Work continues, if you have any Hamond ancestors please do get in touch and I wiouild be delighted to share information with you.

My one name study is currently focussed on the Hamond surname only.

Hamond appears to be an early form of the  later variant Hammond.

The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britian and Ireland (Oxford University Press 2016) has 4 suggestions  :-

1 Norman, English: relationship name from the Middle English, Old French personal name Hamon , Haimon , also sometimes appearing as Hawmon in Middle English. It frequently developed an excrescent -d , giving Hamond , Haimund , and Hawmond .

2 English: relationship name from the Middle English personal name Hamund (Old Scandinavian Hámundr ), which may have been used in Normandy and in 12th-century E England, although it is likely that most, if not all, of the examples there of Hamund are from the French name in (1).

3 English: in Bradford (WR Yorks) a reduced form of Ormondroyd, formerly Hamondesrode . Redmonds, Dictionary of Yorks Surnames, shows the development of the surname in Horton (WR Yorks) from Hawmunrode (1379) to Hawmound (1571) and Hamond (1672).

4 Irish: sometimes adopted for Mac Ámoinn, see McCammon.

1438 Henry VI Close Rolls

Thomas Hamonde of Westmylle son and heir of John Hamonde son of Thomas Hamonde and of Katherine his wife daughter and heir of Edmund Snellynge

William Hamond "of ye hill"  Westmill Hertfordshire circa 1560  ?

George Hamond bap. 1585 Westmill Hertfordshire, bur 1650 Wyddial Hertfordshire ENGLAND

George Hamond bap. 1625 Westmill Hertfordshire,  bur. 1708 Furneux Pelham Hertfordshire ENGLAND

William Hamond bap 1666 Wicken Bonhunt Essex  bur 1719 Furneux Pelham Herfordshire ENGLAND

Hamond

GB frequency in 1881   238

Current frequency GB   49          Ireland 1

Hammond

GB frequency in 1881   16,965

Current frequency GB 22,883  Ireland 652

Source:  The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (Oxford University Press 2016)

Hamond

1881 main location scattered especially East Anglia

Hammond

1881 widespread in England and Wales especially Suffolk.

1847-64 main Irish location Donegal; Dublin; Limerick; Down

Source:  The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (Oxford University Press 2016)

Data collection for this one name study is in it's early stages, and currently confined to the UK.

• Hamond marriages in Hertfordshire from Parish Registers held at Herts County Record Office
• Hamond baptisms marriages and burials from Westmill Hertfordshire Parish Registers 
• References to 252 PCC Hamond wills
• References from the 1545 Hertfordshire Lay Subsidy
• Calendars of  Close Rolls 1399 -  1509 from British History Online

Family Tree DNA Y DNA (37 marker) and Autosomal DNA test

Y DNA results submitted to Hammond  Y DNA Project.

Autosomal data submitted to My Heritage

Autosomal test on Living DNA