Where the Holmes name comes from

Holmes is an English surname with several separate origins. It is often a variant of Holme, a name that could mark someone who lived beside a holly tree, from the Middle English holm. Holme can also come from the Old English holm and the Old Norse holmr. In English, holm names an islet.

In Scotland, Holmes is also a habitational name taken from a place near Dundonald. A second Scottish line began in Gaelic, as an Anglicised form of Mac Thomáis. In the western Highland dialect of Knapdale and Argyll, MacGilleTamhais became MacTamhais, then MacHomais, and finally Holmes, which ties those families to Clan MacTavish. These Highland Holmes families are genealogically distinct from the Lowland families of the same name.