Is It Neil Or Neill?

People who know me will be aware that I spell my first name as ‘Neill’ with two ‘LL’s. I guess you’d say it was my mothers idea…..

I always get asked why not ‘Neil Watson’ and almost without exception, my christian name is mis-spelled in a huge variety of ways, sadly that includes domain names. This can be a frustrating thing when someone says you ‘Don’t appear on Google….’

With this in mind I decided to put this page together about the name Neill (or Neil) Watson, it’s meaning and all the different spellings. Of course the more obvious reason for the web-savvy amongst you is helping people find me on Google

First place to look was behindthename.com which gave me the following:

NEIL   m
Usage: Irish, Scottish, English
Pronounced: NEE-ul
From the Gaelic name Niall, which is of disputed origin, possibly meaning “champion” or “cloud”. This was the name of a semi-legendary 4th-century Irish king. A famous modern bearer of this name was American astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the moon.

Then, of course, there’s the surname O’Neill – made famous by some actor guy called Ryan and those makers of great wetsuits and snow gear. A quick Google search reveals that it’s almost certainly from Ireland too, probably meaning ‘son of’ Neill. If I’m wrong, email me!

Further Google rummaging revealed that there’s even another photographer called Neil Watson, based here in the UK. If you are a Neil or Neill Watson and want to exchange links, feel free to contact me with your URL. Or if you know me from many years gone by, drop me a line to say hi!

Most places I looked gave Neil as meaning ‘Champion’ which is just fine by me!

So there y’go. It’s spelled Neill Watson, not Neil Watson. And if all this gets me found on Google under both spellings, this page will have done it’s job!

Cheers,

Neill (Neil) Watson!