This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Gill.' Either Gill, nick, of William (Guillaume), or Gill or Jill, the nick of Juliana. Both were in use for a time, but the latter finally ruled supreme, and Will quickly became the nick, of the other; v. Gillson.

Richard fil. Gille, Cambridgeshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Gille Hulle, Cambridgeshire, ibid.

Roger Gille, Oxfordshire, ibid.

Magota Gil-doghter, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Elizabethe Gylle-doghter, 1379: ibid.

Robert Gille, 1379: ibid.

(a) Local, 'at the gill' or 'ghyll,' a deep glen or ravine.

Johannes del Gill, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Magota del Gylle, 1379: ibid.

1609. Married — John Gill and Elizabeth Norman: St. Mary Aldermary (London).

(1) A tradition held by members of the Aberdeen family of this name is that they came originally from Cumberland, where at an early period they owned lands, among others the barony of Gillsland. Gilsland, one of three original baronies in Cumberland, is spelled Gillesland in 1240, and may have been the possession of one Gilli or Gille. Gilli is an old West Scandinavian personal name, borrowed at an earlier period directly from OG. gilla, 'a servant,' or from a pet form of one of the numerous Gaelic names in Gilla-, as Gillebride, Gillechrist, etc. The abbreviated form was not used by Gaels as a proper name, but such usage originated among the Vikings in the West. The surname is of great antiquity on both sides of the Rorder. Gille filius Boed was one of the witnesses to Earl David's Inquisitio concerning the lands of the church of Glasgow, a. 1124 (REG., p. 5. See further under Boed). This Gille son of Boed or Boet stands on a pedestal unique, perhaps in Scottish history, as the last Scotic chieftain to hold sway in England against the power of the Norman (Sc. Ant., XVII, p. 111). Gille filius Mercheh was one of the perambulators of the lands of Clerchetune (Clerkington near Edinburgh),c. 1241 (RPSA., P. 181). (2) A second possible and local origin is suggested by the name of Patrick del Gyle (from ON. geil or gil, "ravine, cleft') of Peeblesshire who rendered homage, 1296 (Bain, II, p. 208). A payment was made to John Gill of Perth in 1328 (ER., I, p. 88), who appears as alderman there in 1330 (SCM., V, p. 10) and as John Gyl or Gylle is recorded as burgess in 1333 (Scon, p. 164—165). He may be the Johannes Gille, dominus de Torsopy, a charter witness in 1366 (RMS., I, 247). Another John Gille, a Scottish merchant in Normandy, received payment for his cargo of barley in 1369 (Bain, IV, 151). John Gylle was provost of Perth, 1389 (Milne, p. 38), Henry Gyll was burgess of Edinburgh, 1460 (Ayr, p. 35), Thomas Gill was miller in Newton Mill, 1658 (RRM., I, p. 183), Bessie Gill appears in Troquier, 1659 (Dumfries), and Margaret Gill in Coldon, 1690 (Dunkeld).

1. See Gilbert. 2. This word occurs singly as a surname, and also with many compounds, as Asgill, Pickersgill, Dowgill, Gilham, Gilby, &c. It either signifies a narrow pebbly rivulet in a ravine, or is a diminutive of Gilbert. According to B.L.G. the Gills of Devonshire have possessed lands in that county ever since the reign of King Stephen.

Local. A valley or woody glen; a narrow dell with a brook running through it; a small stream.

A U.S. name. Contracted from Gillet for Willet, a diminutive of Will for William.

The principal home of the Gills at the present day is in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The Gills of Norton trace their pedigree 300 years hack (H. H.).