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The name Dimmer reached English shores for the first time with the ancestors of the Dimmer family as they migrated following the Norman Conquest of 1066. The Dimmer family lived in Northumberland. The family are descended in England from the Norman House of Baron Foulke de Dinan, whose surname translates as from Dinan. The name Dimmer derives from the abbreviated form Dinan.
The surname Dimmer was first found in Northumberland where they were granted lands by William the Conqueror, and were Companions in Arms to the Lords of Mitford and Bothal. Sir Alain Dinan was the scion of this family. In Brittany he was descended from Baron Foulke de Dinan, and the family still retained the Barony in Brittany from 1295 to 1509. The name in England became Dinner, Diner, and Dinar.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Dimmer research. Another 75 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Dimmer History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Dinan, Dinner, Diner, Dinar and others.
More information is included under the topic Early Dimmer Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Dimmer name or one of its variants:
Some of the first settlers of this family name were: