Gal Family History

Hungarian, Slovak and Czech (Gál); Polish (also Gał); Rusyn (in Slovakia also Gál in Poland also Gał); Slovenian and Croatian: from the personal name Hungarian, Slovak and Czech Gál, Polish, Rusyn, Slovenian and Croatian Gal, from Latin Gallus (see Gall) the name borne by a 7th-century Irish missionary who was very active in central Europe and is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.

This personal name was widespread in Europe in the Middle Ages, and it gave rise to many surnames, e.g. Slovak Galko, Galčík, Galik, Gall, Gallik, Galovič (see Galovic), and Galus, and Slovenian Gale. In North America, the surname Gal could also be a shortening of some of them.

Croatian and Slovenian: from the old personal name Gal, from gal, an obsolete word meaning ‘black’. Dutch: variant of Gaal. French: nickname from southern French gal ‘rooster’ (Old French jal, Latin gallus).

French: from a vernacular form of the Latin personal name Gallus (see Gall), the name of a 6th-century Christian saint bishop of Clermont; or a habitational name for someone from either of two places called Saint-Gal in Lozère and Puy-de-Dôme, or from Saint-Jal in Corrèze.

Compare Dugal. Jewish (Israeli): artificial name from Hebrew gal ‘wave’.