Willis
A classic English surname most often from the given name William, though some families may have taken it from place names or related forms.
The #230 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 2,372 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Willis is usually understood as a patronymic surname meaning "son of Will," with Will being a short form of William. William itself comes through Old French from older Germanic name elements meaning roughly "will" or "desire" plus "helmet" or "protection." Some historical writers also treated Willis as a related spelling family of Wills and Willes, and a few examples may have local or place-name origins rather than a pure patronymic.
History
The surname is well established in medieval England and appears in records with forms that point to both nickname-style and patronymic usage. Later surname scholars also linked some Willis-like forms with Norman and local names, so the surname may have more than one origin in different families. It remained common in England and spread widely to North America and other English-speaking regions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname scholars often grouped Willis with a whole cluster of related names built from William, including Wills, Willes, Willett, and Willmott.
From the historical record
“WILLES = Willis, q.v. WILLET(T(A.-Fr.-Teut.) the common French Guillet, f. the first elem. of one or other of the O.Teut. Will- names [v. under Wilier] + the Fr. dim. suff. -et.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Willis
- Bruce Willis (b. 1955)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.