Gellie History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
England

The ancient Viking-Scottish name Gellie is derived from Giles. "In the Scottish dialect jelly means worthy, upright." 1

The surname Gellie is derived from a corruption of this personal name. Giles is derived from the Old Scandinavian personal name Gilli, which came to the British Isles with the Vikings who settled in the north of England and in Scotland in the 9th century AD. They came to the British Isles under the leadership of Sigurd the Stout after they were dispossessed of their lands by the King of Norway.

Early Origins of the Gellie family

The surname Gellie was first found in Ayrshire where early record show Thomas Jelle held a tenement in 1518. Later, William Jellie is recorded in Cruikens, parish of Carnwath, 1673 and Andrew Jellie and his wife were residents in the parish of Borgue, 1684. 2

Further to the south in England, we found Thomas Jely listed in Essex in 1472; Robert Jely in the Subsidy Rolls for Suffolk in 1524 and John Jelleye and Richard Gellye in Surrey in 1583. 3

Early History of the Gellie family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Gellie research. Another 153 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1500, 1592, 1593, 1621, 1663, 1665 and 1673 are included under the topic Early Gellie History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gellie Spelling Variations

The spellings of Scottish names dating from the medieval era often bear little resemblance to those seen today. They vary enormously because scribes in that time spelled according to their ears. Some spelling variations of the name Gellie include Jelly, Jellie, Jelley and others.

Early Notables of the Gellie family

More information is included under the topic Early Gellie Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Gellie migration to the United States +

The farms of Scottish settlers soon dotted the east coast of the colonies that would become the nations of the United States and Canada. Many of those migrants and their children went on to play important roles in the founding the great nations of North America. Early North American immigration records have revealed a number of people bearing the Scottish name Gellie or a variant listed above, including:

Gellie Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Helena Gellie, who arrived in Maryland in 1657 4

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)