From where did the "hammoud" family originated?

Question

am a member of the hammoud family from the south of lebanon.like many lebanese,am a third generation lebanese immigrant somewhere far away from lebanon.am interested in knowing where my family/ancestors originated from.how come we are found in many arab countries?how come members of the hammoud family are christians and muslims,and are shia and sunni?what brought this diversification?were they originally arab or phoenicians?or what could they have been before "arabization"?any more details would be appreciated.

in addition,i know there is a place in lebanon called "bourj hammoud".why is it called "bourj hammoud"?was it name in tribute to the family name?or for what other reason?

thanks!!!!!!

Answer 1

This might help you to understand why Hammoud is spread so widely.

Hammoud  

Last name origin & meaning:

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic ̣hammūd ‘much praising’, a derivative of ̣hmd ‘praise’ (see Hamid).

Hamid    

First name origins & meanings:

Arabic: Thankful to God

Arabic: Praised one

First name variations: Haamid, Hamaad, Hamadi, Hamd, Hamdrem, Hammad, Hammyd, Hammydd, Humayd, Mohammed, Muhammed, Mohamad, Mohammed, Mohamed, Mohammad, Mohamet, Mahmoud, Mehemet, Mehmet, Ahmad, Ahmet, Amad, Amed, Hamad, Hammed, Muhammad

Last name origin & meaning:

Muslim: from a personal name based on Arabic ̣hāmid ‘praising’, ‘praiser (of Allah)’, or ̣hamīd ‘praised’, ‘praiseworthy’. Al-̣Hamīd ‘the All-Laudable’ is an attribute of Allah. The name ‛Abd-ul-Hamīd means ‘servant of the All-Laudable’. The root ̣hmd ‘praise’ is one of the most common elements in Arabic name forming; in addition to this name, it also lies behind names such as Ahmad and Muhammad.

Bourj Hammoud was founded by survivors of the Armenian Genocide of 1915 and expanded mostly during the 1930s.

http://www.horizonworld.com/vb/showthrea...

Edit :

Yes, that is true, it is a name common to many people who are not all inter-related. Obviously your own lineage must follow the name Hammoud back to the first of your ancestors to bear the name, many of the male ancestors in your direct line probably had more than one son, so today you must have many cousins. :o)  But clearly not all Hammoud's are related to you.

Answer 2

then how is it possible for a member of the family to trace his descent?in isolation from other famlies sharing the surname?

so are we saying that the family name is found i many arab countries simply on coincidence due to the language similarity and not genes?

which means all of hammoud descent are not connected with blood but rather with the name which is only derived from language-arabic?