This is a famous Anglo-French surname, but one which can be of early Norse-Viking or later French and German origins of which it has three. The first origin is from the Norse-Viking personal name Hamundr, meaning "High protection" and possibly introduced into Britain in about the 7th century. The second is also Norse-Viking and of the same period, but from Amundr, meaning "Ancester protection".
It appears among the very earliest surnames found in England, where it was introduced as a family cognomen at the time of the conquest by some officers of the invading Norman army.
