Walls History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

• Origins Available:
• Netherlands
• England
• Germany
• Ireland

Etymology of Walls

The ancestors of the name Walls date back to the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Walls family lived near a stone-built wall. Walls is a local surname, which belongs to the category of hereditary surnames. Other types of local surnames include topographic surnames, which could be given to a person who lived beside any physical feature, such as a hill, stream, church or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names. They were derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads. Other local names are derived from the names of houses, manors, estates, regions, and entire counties. The surname Walls referred to a person who lived beside a large stone wall, which was used either for the purpose of fortification, or to keep back the encroachment of the sea. Members of the Walls family were established in Gloucestershire prior to the Norman Conquest of England, in 1066. By the time of the Conquest, they were major landholders in that county.

Early Origins of the Walls family

Early History of the Walls family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Walls research. Another 134 words (10 lines of text) covering the years 1172, 1210, 1303, 1352, 1588, 1620, 1647, 1666, 1679, 1728, 1760, 1789 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Walls History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Walls Spelling Variations

It is only in the last few hundred years that the English language has been standardized. For that reason, early Anglo-Saxon surnames like Walls are characterized by many spelling variations. As the English language changed and incorporated elements of other European languages, even literate people changed the spelling of their names. The variations of the name Walls include: Wall, Walls, Wale, Walles and others.

Early Notables of the Walls family

Sir Thomas Wale (1303-1352), an English soldier and co-founder of the Knight of the Garter; William de Wall, the knight who accompanied Strongbow; Saint John Wall, O.F.M., (1620-1679), an English Catholic Franciscan friar, apprehended under suspicion of being a party to the Titus Oates plot, was executed and later honored as a martyr; William Wall (1647-1728)...
Another 55 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Walls Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Walls Ranking

In New Zealand, the name Walls is the 970^th most popular surname with an estimated 771 people with that name. 2 However, in the United States, the name Walls is ranked the 697^th most popular surname with an estimated 42,279 people with that name. 3

Migration of the Walls family to Ireland

Some of the Walls family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 80 words (6 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.