GILLIS
Gillis is a surname of Gaelic, Irish and Scottish provenance. It has been identified as an Anglo-Scottish name that has persisted through centuries of linguistic change within the British Isles.
Derivation of the surname is most clearly traced to the Gaelic personal name Gille Iosa, which literally translates as servant of Jesus. The prefix Mac denotes a patronymic relation, rendering Mac Gille Iosa as “son of the servant of Jesus”. This indicates that the name originally signified descent from a male ancestor who was associated with the Christian devotee Gille Iosa.
Over time the name was anglicised into a number of spellings that are still observed today. Common forms include Gillis, Gillies and Gilles. Historical records record a wide range of variant spellings such as Giles, Gills, Gyles, Jiles, Jills, Jellis, Jealous and Jolliss. These variants reflect regional pronunciations and the phonetic transliteration of Gaelic into English between the 12th and 17th centuries.
Documentary evidence of the surname appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 under the spellings Gilo and Ghilo, recorded as part of Norman settlement in England. Further early examples include the naming of John Gellis of Edinburgh in 1527, and the baptism of Henry Jealous’ daughter Jane at St Benets church in 1678. The first North American mention is of Jonathon Giles in the 1623 muster of the Virginia Colony.
The name is also linked to the revered saint St Gyles, originally named Aegidius. According to reliable hagiographic sources, Aegidius was a Greek hermit who migrated to France and was later known in French as Gilles. The saint’s name, meaning “goatskin‑wearer”, was taken to denote a holy man, and his patronage over beggars and the disabled informs the naming of churches such as St Gyles Cripplegate in London. The introduction of this name to England and Scotland by the Normans produced the modern surname forms listed above.
In the modern era the surname is widely distributed across the United Kingdom, particularly within Scotland and Northern Ireland. Due to 17th‑ and 18th‑century emigration patterns it is also common in the United States, Canada, and Australia. The same name appears in Continental Europe, with recognized spellings ranging from Agidi to Ilchman in France and Belgium, and from Gillyns to Gillette in Germany. These dispersions reflect historical migration, trade connections and the linguistic landscape of the Early Modern period.
The multitude of variants – from Gilles to Gillish, Gyllis and beyond – demonstrates the linguistic evolution of the surname across different dialects and languages. In Scotland and Ireland, particular forms such as Gillan, Gillen and Gillon are often linked to the Gaelic practice of prefixing or suffixing patronymic elements, underscoring the deep cultural heritage of the name.
Typical given names associated with the Gillis surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- Ian
- John
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Richard
- Robert
- William
Female
- Amanda
- Claire
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Jane
- Lisa
- Lucy
- Mary
- Nicola
- Pamela
- Patricia
- Penelope
- Rachel
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Gillis in...
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There are approximately 880 people named Gillis in the UK. That makes it roughly the 8,161st most common surname in Britain. Around 14 in a million people in Britain are named Gillis.
Surname type: Diminutive
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Gillis
- Joseph Gillis - Israeli mathematician (1911 to 1993)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.