47,689 Global Ellison Family Members

Ellison Family History

This most interesting surname has two possible origins. Firstly, it may be a patronymic form of "Ellis", which itself derives from the early medieval English personal name "Elis", the normal vernacular form of "Elijah", from the Greek "Elias", from the Hebrew name "Eliyahu", meaning "Jehovah is God", with the patronymic ending "-son", son of. Secondly, the name may perhaps be of Old German origin, from the Old Germanic female personal name "Elisind" and Old French "Elissent, Elisant", which appears in the recording of Adam filius Elysant in the Pipe Rolls of Hertfordshire in 1190. Early examples of the surname from the former source, which became popular among Christians due to the biblical prophet Elijah, include Adam Elisson, mentioned in the Poll Tax Rolls of Yorkshire in 1379, and John Ellyson, recorded in the "Register of the Freemen of the City of York" in 1487; while from the latter source the surname first appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Essex, when one Henry Elesant is recorded in 1327...