Talk:Willis (surname)

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I just copyedited the introductory paragraph, which purports to give the derivation of the name Willis, and I am skeptical that the citation covers all the assertions. Willis supposedly signifies "Keeper of the well" but is derived from vallibus and vaux which mean dale or valley.Frappyjohn (talk) 03:36, 21 August 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Agreed- no source I could find corroborated the 'well' origin (this presumably deriving, in someone's opinion, from the similarity with 'Welles'); I reworked the article to clarify that the Willes/ Willis/ Wylles etc family of Warwickshire, at least, ostensibly derive from the Welles family and lay claim to the antiquity outlined in the article, but that, at the same time, many people of the name have no such origin, another (greatly more common, apparently) origin of the name being 'son of William', which, given the degree to which the name 'William' became popular following the Conquest, strongly indicates that most people of the name are completely unrelated, at least based on the above evidence. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 88.109.223.91 (talk) 00:06, 3 October 2017 (UTC)[reply]