Wallis Family History

Scottish and English: from Anglo-Norman French Waleis Walais ‘Welshman’ also sometimes ‘Breton’ (from Old English wēalas walas plural of walh wealh originally meaning a ‘Roman citizen’ and referring to the native British population but in Old English this term later came to mean ‘serf unfree person foreigner’ or ‘Welshman’).

In western and central England the medieval reference is clearly to Welshmen. In Norfolk and Lincolnshire the reference was probably to Bretons, many of whom settled in the eastern counties after the Conquest.

Compare Welsh Walsh. The idea that the Scottish surname refers to the Welsh-speaking Britons of Strathclyde is erroneous.