The distinguished surname Alliss was first brought to England in the wake of the Norman Conquest of 1066. The name is matronymic in origin, deriving from the name of the mother of the original bearer. This name is derived from the Old French personal names "Aalis" or "Aliz," which are diminutives of the Old Germanic "Adalhaidis," meaning "noble person."
The surname Alliss was first found in the northeastern counties of England, where it occurred fairly frequently as a personal name in the years immediately following the Norman Conquest. The first known bearer of the surname was Willelmus filius Alis, who was listed in the Curia Regis Rolls of Bedfordshire in 1214.
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Alliss research. Another 105 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1214, 1219, 1221, and 1273 are included under the topic Early Alliss History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Anglo-Norman names tend to be marked by an enormous number of spelling variations. This is largely due to the fact that Old and Middle English lacked any spelling rules when Norman French was introduced in the 11th century. The languages of the English courts at that time were French and Latin. These various languages mixed quite freely in the evolving social milieu. The final element of this mix is that medieval scribes spelled words according to their sounds rather than any definite rules, so a name was often spelled in as many different ways as the number of documents it appeared in. The name was spelled Alis, Alise, Allies, Allis, Alliss, Allish, Alais, Hallis and many more.
More information is included under the topic Early Alliss Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Some of the Alliss family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 39 words (3 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Because of the political and religious discontent in England, families began to migrate abroad in enormous numbers. Faced with persecution and starvation at home, the open frontiers and generally less oppressive social environment of the New World seemed tantalizing indeed to many English people. The trip was difficult, and not all made it unscathed, but many of those who did get to Canada and the United States made important contributions to the young nations in which they settled. Some of the first North American settlers with Alliss name or one of its variants: Richard Allis, who arrived in Boston in 1632; Ellen Alice, who settled in Virginia in 1635; as did Mary Alice in 1650; Joseph Allis, who immigrated to Massachusetts in 1688.