Dictionary of Family Names

FILMUR, FILMORE.   This name, in all probability, arose from a residence near a lake or a fertile piece of ground; fille, Saxon, denoting fullness or plenteousness, and mere, a lake or moist piece of ground.  The name has been spelled at different times Fylmere, Filmour, and Filmore.  Several other derivations may be found for the etymology of this name.  From filea, Celtic and Gaelic, a bard, a historian, and mor, great, that is, the famous bard.  The Fileas, among the Gauls, or Celts, were held in great esteem, and their office was honorable.  They turned the tenets of religion into verse, and animated the troops before and during an engagement with martial odes, and celebrated the valorous deeds of the chieftains and princes who entertained them.