Willis (surname)


Willis is a surname of French and English origin. The oldest extant family of the name, the Willes family of Warwickshire, formerly of Newbold Comyn and Fenny Compton, has used the spellings 'Willis,' 'Willys,' and 'Wyllys' and appear in records from 1330. In this case, the name derives from the name de Welles which comes from the Norman name de Vallibus, which in turn was derived from the Vaux family tree. The Vaux family, established in England by Harold de Vaux, a close relative of William the Conqueror, appears in French records from 794. They had held power in their own right and through royal intermarriages.
There are other derivations of the name, including 'son of William/ Will' ; because of the popularity of the name 'William' since the Norman conquest, it is clear that by no means are all people with this surname- even very distantly- related.
Sources of the name notwithstanding, specific notable Willis families were of: Halsnead, Lancashire ; Atherfield, on the Isle of Wight ; and Monk's Barn, Petersfield, Hampshire. The Willis family were of Wick, Worcestershire, a cadet branch of the Cambridgeshire family from which also came brothers Thomas and Richard Willis, each created a baronet, both titles being extinct at the failure of their descendants by 1732. Humphrey Willis, an English soldier who became Sheriff of County Donegal and County Fermanagh, was of a yeomanry/ minor gentry family of Woolavington, Somerset, related on his mother's side to the Pophams of Huntworth; he was the ancestor of the Willis family of Florencecourt, County Fermanagh, later also of Monmouthshire, of which came the physician and foreign advisor to Japan, William Willis, and the writer Anthony Armstrong ; George Willis, who farmed at Florencecourt, discovered the Florencecourt Yew in 1767.
Notable persons with this surname include:

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