Campbell is a Scottish surname —derived from the Gaelic roots cam ("crooked") and beul ("mouth")—that had originated as a nickname meaning "crooked mouth" or "wry mouthed."[2] Clan Campbell, historically one of the largest and most powerful of the Highland clans, traces its origins to the ancient Britons of Strathclyde.[3] Between 1200 and 1500 the Campbells emerged as one of the most powerful families in Scotland, dominant in Argyll and capable of wielding a wider influence and authority from Edinburgh to the Hebrides and western Highlands.[4]
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Today, the name is found throughout the world as a consequence of large scale emigration from Scotland from the 18th century onwards and the settlement of the Scottish diaspora in many countries particularly the United States, Canada and Australia. Due to significant Scottish immigration in the 16th and 17th centuries, the name is also found across the island of Ireland but particularly in Ulster.
Campbell is the third most common surname in Northern Ireland, fourth most common in Jamaica, seventh most common in Scotland, 12th most common in Canada, 18th most common in Australia, 41st most common in the United States and 65th most common in England.[1]
A–C
- Aaron Campbell (born 1991), American voice actor
- Aileen Campbell, Scottish National Party member of the Scottish Parliament for Clydesdale and Minister for Local Government and Planning
- Alan Campbell, Baron Campbell of Alloway (1917–2013), British judge, barrister and writer
- Alastair Campbell, British political editor and spokesman
- Albert Ralph Campbell, American Medal of Honor recipient
- Alfred Walter Campbell (1868–1937), English neuroanatomic scientist
- Ali Campbell, singer-songwriter of the English reggae band UB40
- Allison Campbell (born 1963), American chemist
- Ami Campbell (born 1991), English cricketer
- Andy Campbell (born 1979), English footballer
- Ann-Marie Campbell, Jamaican-American business executive
- Barbara Campbell (born 1961), Australian performance and installation artist
- Beck (born Bek Campbell), American musician
- Betty Campbell (1934–2017), Welsh head teacher
- Brian Campbell (born 1979), Canadian ice hockey player
- Brun Campbell (1884–1952), American ragtime composer and pianist
- Bryan Campbell (born 1944), Canadian ice hockey player
- Calais Campbell (born 1986), American football player
- Cassie Campbell (born 1973), Canadian former ice hockey player
- Cecil Bustamente Campbell, better known as Prince Buster (1938–2016), musician from Kingston, Jamaica
- Chad Campbell (born 1974), American golfer
- Chance Campbell (born 1999), American football player
- Charlotte C. Campbell (1914–1993), American medical mycologist
- Christian Campbell, Canadian actor and brother of Neve Campbell
- Christiana Burdett Campbell, (c. 1723–1792), colonial American innkeeper
- Clarence Campbell (1905–1984), Canadian ice hockey executive
- Colen Campbell, Scottish neo-Palladian architect
- Conchita Campbell, Canadian actress
D–H
- Daisy Campbell (born 2003), English actress
- Danielle Campbell, American actress
- Dante Campbell (born 1999), Canadian soccer player
- Darius Campbell Danesh (1980–2022), Scottish singer, songwriter
- Darren Campbell (born 1973), English Olympic sprinter
- Dean Campbell (born 2001), Scottish footballer
- DJ Campbell (born 1981), English footballer
- Kurtis Campbell, British DJ
- Don Campbell (1925–2012), Canadian ice hockey player
- Earl Campbell (born 1955), American football player
- Eddie C. Campbell (1939–2018), American musician and singer
- Eddie Campbell, Scottish graphic novelist, artist
- Eila Campbell (1915–1994), English geographer
- Elden Campbell (born 1968), American basketball player
- Eliza Campbell (born 1995
- Elspeth Campbell (1940–2023), British baroness and socialite
- Epsy Campbell Barr, Presidential Candidate in Costa Rica
- Ernest T. Campbell, American Presbyterian clergyman
- Evelyn Campbell (actress) (1868–?), British-born American stage actress
- Ffyona Campbell, British woman who was the first woman to walk around the world
- Fraizer Campbell (born 1987), English footballer
- Francis Eastwood Campbell, Major, 1823–1911, 2nd clerk of the New Zealand House of Representatives
- Frank Campbell (New York politician), New York State comptroller 1892–1893
- Fred Campbell, English footballer
- Gene Campbell, American ice hockey player
- Georgia Campbell (1926–2004), American baseball player
- Gordon Campbell (disambiguation), several people
- Grace Campbell (1895–1963), Canadian writer
- Sir Guy Campbell, 1st Baronet (1786–1849), British Army officer of the Napoleonic era
- Greg Campbell (cricketer) (born 1964), Australian cricketer
- Harvey Campbell (Canadian football) (born c. 1940), Canadian football player
- Harvey Campbell (politician), American politician
- Hazel Campbell (1940–2018), Jamaican writer
- Helen Stuart Campbell (1839–1918; pseudonym, "Helen Wheaton"), American author, editor, social reformer, home economist
- Hélène Campbell (born 1991), Canadian activist
- Henry Campbell-Bannerman, prime minister
- Hugh Campbell (baseball) (1846–1881), Irish baseball player
I–L
- Ian MacDonald Campbell (1922–1994), engineer
- Isaiah Campbell (born 1997), American baseball player
- Isobel Campbell, Scottish musician
- J. Campbell, English footballer
- J. Kenneth Campbell, American actor
- J. Scott Campbell, comic book artist
- Jacquelyn Campbell (born 1946), American nurse
- Jane L. Campbell, first female mayor of Cleveland, Ohio
- Jane Maud Campbell (1869–1947), American librarian and social reformer
- Jason Campbell (born 1981), American football player
- Jayden Campbell (born 2000), Australian rugby league player
- Jean Campbell (1927–2004), American baseball player
- Jean Helen St. Clair Campbell
- Jeannette Campbell (1916–2003), Argentine swimmer
- Jerry Campbell (1944–2017), American Canadian football player
- Jihaad Campbell (born 2004), American football player
- Joel Campbell (born 1992), Costa Rican footballer
- Joe Campbell, singer-songwriter and producer of The Time Frequency
- Jonathan A. Campbell, American herpetologist
- Keith Campbell (cricketer) (born 1943), New Zealand cricketer
- Kelon Campbell (born 1995), American influencer and comedian known online as Psyiconic
- Kieran Campbell (born 1979), Irish rugby union player
- Kim Campbell (pilot), US Air Force A-10 pilot
- Kim Campbell, first female Prime Minister of Canada
- Larry Campbell, Canadian politician
- LeRoy Campbell (1915–2007), American football player
- Liza Campbell (born 1959), Scottish artist, calligrapher, columnist and writer
- Louis Campbell (born 1979), American basketball player
- Lyle Campbell, linguist
M–R
- Malcolm Campbell (1885–1948), British holder of world land and water speed records
- Maria Campbell, Native American author of Canadian descent
- Marsha Campbell, American politician from Missouri
- Martin Campbell, New Zealand director
- Marvin Campbell (gymnast) (born 1961), British gymnast
- Marvin Campbell (politician) (1849–1930), American politician from Indiana
- Maurice Campbell (1919–2014), Canadian curler
- Maurice S. Campbell (1869 or 1870–1942), American silent film director
- Melanie L. Campbell, American voting rights activist
- Menzies Campbell, former British Liberal Democrat leader
- Merritt L. Campbell (1864–1915), American politician
- Minnie Campbell (1862–1952), Canadian clubwoman, lecturer, and editor
- Murray Campbell, computer scientist
- Nan Campbell (1926–2013), American politician
- Naomi Campbell (born 1970), British supermodel, actress and singer
- Natalie Campbell (after marriage Thurlow), New Zealand curler
- Nate Campbell, American boxer
- Nellie Campobello (originally spelled Campbell) (1900–1986), Mexican writer
- Neve Campbell, Canadian actress
- Nicky Campbell, Scottish TV journalist and presenter
- Nicola I. Campbell, Indigenous Canadian author, poet, and educator
- Nina Campbell, English interior designer
- Norman Campbell, Canadian composer, director and Officer of the Order of Canada
- Norman Robert Campbell, English physicist and measuremental theorist
- Oliver Campbell (1871–1953), American tennis player
- Paris Campbell (born 1992), American comedian, singer, and internet celebrity
- Parris Campbell (born 1997), American football player
- Preston Campbell (born 1977), Australian rugby league player
- Preston W. Campbell (1874–1954), American lawyer and judge
- Ralph E. Campbell (1867–1921), American attorney born in Pennsylvania, earned an LLB. from University of Kansas Law School and who became notable in Indian Territory and its successor, the state of Oklahoma, appointed as federal judge (1907–1918)
- Ramsey Campbell, British horror writer
- Randy Campbell, American football player
- Rebecca Campbell, neuroendocrinologist
- Reginald Campbell Thompson, British archaeologist
- Reginald Campbell (1894–1950), British writer
- Reginald John Campbell, British cleric and theologian
- Remaye Campbell (born 2000), English footballer
- Rosemary Campbell (born 1944), New Zealand painter
- Ryan Campbell (born 1972), Australian cricketer
S–Z
- Sabine Hyland (née Campbell), American anthropologist
- Selvin Campbell, birth name of boxer Lefty Satan Flynn
- Shannon Campbell (born 1996), Australian rules footballer
- Sharon Campbell, British diplomat
- Sherwin Campbell (born 1970), Barbadian cricketer
- Sidney S. Campbell (1909–1974), English organist
- Simone Campbell (born 1945), feminist nun
- Skip Campbell (1948–2018), American politician
- Sol Campbell (born 1974), English footballer (soccer player)
- Sophie Campbell, American comic book creator
- T. Colin Campbell (1934), American biochemist
- Tara Campbell (born 1983), Canadian water polo player
- Terran Campbell (born 1998), Canadian soccer player
- Terry Campbell (born 1968), Canadian-born German ice hockey player
- Tevaughn Campbell (born 1993), American football player
- Tevin Campbell, American music artist
- Thomas Lopton Campbell Jr., 19th-century American pioneer and Texas Ranger
- Tilden Campbell (1908–1963), American college sports coach
- Tim Campbell (actor), ex-Home and Away star and host of Million Dollar Wheel of Fortune
- Tisha Campbell (born 1968), American actress
- Todd J. Campbell (1956–2021), American judge
- Tunis Campbell (1812–1891), African-American politician in Reconstruction Georgia
- Tyger Campbell (born 2000), American basketball player
- Tyson Campbell (born 2000), American football player
- V. Floyd Campbell (1873–1906), American illustrator
- Veronica Campbell Brown (born 1982), Jamaican sprinter
- Vivian Campbell, Northern Irish rock guitarist
- Wendy Campbell-Purdie (1925–1985), New Zealand tree-planter
- Will D. Campbell (1924–2013), American Baptist minister, activist, writer, and lecturer
- William B. Campbell, governor of Tennessee
- William C. Campbell (1923–2013), American amateur golfer and former USGA president
- William Durant Campbell, awardee of the Bronze Wolf in 1939
- Yolande Dolly Fox Campbell, American actress, producer, and philanthropist
- Annie Campbell, a fictional character from the Australian soap opera Home and Away
- Fionna Campbell, a character from Adventure Time and Adventure Time: Fionna and Cake
- Hugh "Wee Hughie" Campbell, a character from The Boys
- Hugh Campbell, Sr., a character from The Boys
- Minerva Campbell, a character from Adventure Time
- Pete Campbell, a character from Mad Men
- Norton Campbell, a character from Identity V
- Ray Campbell, adoptive father to Tamera Campbell on Sister, Sister
