Diss History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The surname Diss was first found in Norfolk, at Diss, a market-town and parish, in the union of Depwade, hundred of Diss. 1 2

"Formerly, Disce or Dice, was held in royal demesne in the reign of Henry I., and in that of Edward I. became the property of Robert Fitzwalter, who obtained for it the privilege of a market." 3

The "History of Norfolk" has three early records for the family: William de Diss, rector of Denton, Norfolk in 1317; Richard de Dysse, rector of Chatgrave in 1350; and Thomas Dysse, vicar of Necton, Norfolk in 1546. 4

But the earliest record of the family was found in Essex, where the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 list William de Disse, as holding lands there at that time. 5 Richard Dyse held estates in Suffolk in 1327. 6

The parish dates back to at least the Domesday Book of 1086 when it was first listed as Dice and at that time and for years later, it was part of Suffolk. Literally the place name means "place at the ditch or dike," from the Anglo-Saxon word "dic." 7

Walter Diss or Dysse (d. 1404?), was a "Carmelite and is supposed to have been a native of the town of Diss, twenty-two miles south-west of Norwich, and to have been educated in the Carmelite house of the latter city." 8

Further to the north in Scotland, the name was derived from "an old burgess family of Aberdeenshire who derived their name from the lands of Dyce in the parish of the same name. The first of the name recorded appears to have been John de Diss who was admitted burgess of Aberdeen in 1467. " 9