TULLIS
The surname Tullis is associated with a notable heritage that reflects both linguistic and occupational origins.
Its earliest roots lie in the Latin personal name Tullius, a Roman family name which, according to historical records, entered the Scottish milieu through Roman soldiers or settlers. The name Tullius is believed to have been derived from the Latin word tullus, meaning “support” or “pillar”, though the precise meaning of the surname when it evolved into Tullis remains a matter of scholarly conjecture rather than certainty.
In parallel, a distinct French lineage can be traced. The Old‑French word tuile meaning “tile” gave rise to an occupational surname for a maker or layer of tiles. The surname appears in various early Scottish and English records such as the 1555 licence of Francis Tullois, who was returned heir of Michael Tulloiss of Hilcairny. Subsequent variants include Tullas, Tullus, Tullois, Tulliez, Tulles, Tullous and Tillis.
Religious documents supply further evidence of the surname’s presence in the British Isles. In the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, ministers bearing the name were recorded in Burntisland (James Tullus, 1598) and Weyms (John Tullis, 1631). Marriage and christening entries in Edinburgh and Westminster throughout the 1690s also record the name, indicating a widespread, though not ubiquitous, adoption across the island.
The twentieth century saw a marked migration of individuals with the surname to the United States. One notable instance involves a famine emigrant, P. Tillis, who sailed from London on the London bound for New York on 21 May 1847. More recently, census figures from 2020 indicate that over 100,000 people in the United States carry the surname Tullis, with significant concentrations in the Southern states—Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia and Florida—as well as in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and other former colonies of the British Empire.
Within the United Kingdom, the Tullis surname is especially common in Northern Ireland, where it ranks within the top one hundred surnames according to the 2011 Census. It is also found in England and Scotland, particularly in Yorkshire where early records trace its presence to 1262, and in the Scottish Highlands where regional spellings such as Tillis were adopted.
Variations in spelling have proliferated over the centuries, including Tulloe, Tulloss, Tulis, Tullius and Tullose. These variants reflect local pronunciation, spelling conventions and the influence of neighbouring languages, yet all maintain the same patronymic or occupational heritage.
By examining historical documents, demographic statistics and linguistic evidence, one can conclude that the surname Tullis embodies a complex synthesis of Roman antecedents, medieval occupational practice and subsequent migration patterns, situated firmly within the cultural tapestry of the British Isles and its global diaspora.
Typical given names associated with the Tullis surname
Male
- Alexander
- Andrew
- Colin
- David
- Edward
- George
- James
- John
- Mark
- Robert
- Simon
- Stephen
Female
- Amanda
- Claire
- Helen
- Ivy
- Joyce
- Lorna
- Lynn
- Margaret
- Rachel
- Sarah
- Sharon
- Susan
- Yvonne
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 Tullis in...
Braille
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Morse
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Semaphore
There are approximately 299 people named Tullis in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around five in a million people in Britain are named Tullis.
Origin: Celtic
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: Scotland
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: Gaelic
Famous people named Tullis
- Julie Tullis - Climber (1939 to 1986)
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.