This surname is derived from a geographical locality. 'from Tilly,' a village in 'the department of Calvados in Normandy, 'as described by Lower. He adds, 'There is a second place so called in the department of Eure.'

Phillipa de Tylly, or Tilli, 33 Henry III: Calendarium Genealogicum: Henry III-Edward I.

Ralph de Tilly, 14 Edward I: ibid.

The latter had property in Normandy.

John Tylye, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Philip de Tylly, Dorset, Henry III-Edward I: Testa de Nevill, sive Liber Feodorum, temp. Henry III-Edward I.

Henry de Tilli, Devon, ibid.

Johannes Tilly, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

(2) Bapt. A pet form of Matilda; v. Till, Tilson, and Tillotson. This second probable origin will help to explain the large number of Tilleys and Tillys in our directories.

1756. Married — John Shipman and Mary Tillie: St. George, Hanover Square.

1761. — Thomas Tilley and Susanna Turnedge: ibid.

1774. — Henry Tilly and Susanna Whittington: ibid.

(Anglo-French-Latin) belonging to Tilly (France) = the Linden-Grove [Latin tilietum-tilia, a linden- or lime-tree + the plantation- suff. -et-um] There are several places in France called Tilly, two of them being in the Dept. of Calvados.

A de Tilly occurs in the List of “Compagnons de Guillaume à la Conquête de l’Angleterre en MLXVI graven over the main doorway (inside) of the old church at Dives, Calvados.

Philipa de Tylly alias Tilli.—Cal. Geneal.

(English) Good [from the Anglo-Saxon name-stem Til(l- (til, good), with the English diminutive suff. -y] A Tilli occurs in the Liber Vitæ Dunelm.

(Anglo-French-Teut.) a double diminutive of Matilda: v. under Malkin.

(English) One who came from Tilley (branch or bough), in Shropshire; one who came from Tilly (lime tree), the name of two places in France.

1. Tilly is a town or village in the department of Calvados in Normandy; and there is a second place so called in the department of Eure. Tilly, Tille. Hund. Rolls. 2. A ' nurse-name ' of William.

Local. A town of France.

A baronial name. William, William Fitz-John, Henry, Ralph, Dionysia, Robert de Tilly, and the Castle and Barony of Tilly, Normandy 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae). Tilly was near Caen, of which the family were Castellans. (La Roque, Mais. Harcourt, ii. 1662, 1994, 1999.) Henry de Tilly held the Castle 1165 (Feod. Norm.). Ralph de T. held lands in Devon 1083 (Exon. Domesday). Haymon de Telleia occurs in Normandy 960 (Neustria Pia, 93). See Wordsworth.

From the French, Thillais, Tilley; personal name Geoffroy de Tilly occurs as one of the benefactors of the abbey of St. Ltienne, Caen, Normandy, founded by William I. Henry de Tilly held Marshwood, Somerset, temp. King John.

Tilly: a common labourer. In full he was called eord- tilie, earth-tiller. So in Lagamon’s “Brut,” circa 1275, and in the “Ancren Riwle,” circa 1225.

The Tilleys or Tillys have been established in the county ever since the reign of Richard I. From the 12th to the 15th century the Tyllys or Tillys of Harptree owned the manor of West Harptree, and in the reign of Henry VI. they owned also the manor of Salty or Salthay (C.). In 1588, George Tilly of Pointingdon, gent., contributed £25 to the national fund for the defence of the country at the time of the expected invasion of the Spanish Armada (Sp.). Tilly was the name of a family of Bristol merchants at the close of the 17th century (B.). At present the Tilleys are most numerous in the Bridgewater district. Since Tylly was an ancient form of the name, it is probable that the Tyleys of Somerset hail from the same stock. Harptree Tilly is an ancient Somerset tithing: Tilly is also the name of a town in Normandy. The name has also long been represented in Cornwall, where it may have had an independent origin. James Tilly or Tillie of Pentilly or Pentillie was high sheriff of Cornwall in 1734 (Polwhele's "Cornwall"), and the name still occurs in Falmouth and its vicinity.