Gill may be a surname or given name, derived from a number of unrelated sources.
In Europe, various cultures use the name, examples being:
In Hebrew, a masculine given name or byname meaning "joy, gladness" (גִּיל, feminine form גִּילָה, Gilla ).
In Korean, a common personal name often transliterated as Gil. [11]
The descendants of Gillpal use the family surname 'Gill'. There are many sub-castes such as Sher-Gill, Jhalli-Gill and so on.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)9. Indian (Panjab): Sikh name, probably from Panjabi gil 'moisture', also meaning 'prosperity'. There is a Jat tribe that bears this name; the Ramgarhia Sikhs also have a clan called Gill.
As well as being a Chuhra gotra , the Gill are an important zat of the Jat tribe based especially in the Lahore and Ferozepur districts. Their mythical ancestor Gill, was said to be the father of Shergill, the founder of another Jat clan.
When this child grew up, he took [a] wife from a Gill Jat family. Thus was this line of Bhatti Rajputs converted into a Jat clan which has ever since been known as Sidhu after the name of their ancestor, Sidhu Rao.
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link){{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: others (link)In the latter half of the twentieth century another practice of hiding caste under the cover of adopted gotras (clan surnames) of the dominant/upper castes, especially among the lower castes, became quite popular. Gotras like 'Atwal', Gill, 'Sandhu', and 'Sidhu' are often being adopted by many 'ex-untouchables' in their desperate attempts towards upward social mobility.
Gilan is said to be " 'the land of Gil,' an ancient tribe which classical writers mentioned as gelae (B.B. 1911, 12: 6)." So "Gilan ... [is] ... the country of the Gelae" (B.B. 1911, 13: 20). The reference to mud is quite interesting because this story appears in the Gill Jat clan bard-an ancestor of the Gills was a child found by a Raja (King) lying in a wet muddy spot, thus he was named Gill (Duleb, chp. 4). Rose also discusses this story, he says the ancestor of the Gills was found by a king "with a lion and abandoned in a forest. As he was found in a marshy (gili) place, he was named Sher [Lion] Gil" (Rose 1883,2: 299)! Whether there is any historical value to this story is not the question, but it seems consistent with the name of Gilan Province in Northern Iran, suggesting that Gill is an Iranian word; this of course is bolstered by the existence of the Iranian-speaking Gil or Gilaki people who still inhabit that region today. Moreover, the Gills maintain a strange wedding custom, which involves' digging soil out of a muddy pond (Duleh, chp. 4). Gill is probably the largest Jat Sikh clan, numbering probably around a half million individuals, based on the census data of 1880 (lbbetson 1916, 121).
The same holds true for the use of language. One thing that keeps frustrating me all the time is the Romanized personal names of Koreans, especially the order of family name and given name. On the back side of their business cards, most Koreans have their Romanized names written in the Western style with the given name coming first and the family name last. For example, Hong Gil-dong is written as "Gil-dong Hong" or "Kil-dong Hong." I believe the order of family name and given name is an important issue from the viewpoint of identity. Saying one's family name first and given name next is part of the unique culture of Koreans. Chinese and Japanese also say their names in the same order. I hope Koreans maintain this order when they write their names in English, like "Hong Gildong" "Hong Gil-dong."