Symmers

This name is found in a variety of spellings, including Symmers, Simmers, Somers and Summers. The name appears to derive from the old French ‘somier’, or ‘sumpter’, meaning ‘packhorse’. The name can also be applied to the person who provisions such animals. William Sumer witnessed a charter around 1180. David II granted William Somyr a pension for life in 1326. In 1478, George Somyr was selected to sit upon the inquest to ascertain the lands of Walter Ogilvy of Airlie. A family by this name appears to have acquired the lands of Baljordie in Angus, as early as 1450. In 1682 the Symmers of Baljordie are described in Spottiswood’s Miscellany of Scots History as ‘ane ancient familie and chief of that name’. They were prominent in local affairs until about the middle of the eighteenth century, when the male line failed.