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Greetings from the Academy of S. Gabriel!
You asked for information on the surnames <Dennis> and <Gillis> and any associated armory and history.
The surname <Dennis> has two main sources. It is most often from the given name <Denis> or <Denise>, from Latin <Dionysius> (masculine) and <Dionysia> (feminine). This name was quite popular in England after the 12th century in both its masculine and feminine forms. [3] It was also popular in Scotland, where St. Denis, the patron saint of France, was the titular saint of five fairs. [1] Thus, the modern surname <Dennis> could go back to an ancestor named <Denis> or <Denise> who lived in England or Scotland. And of course the same given name was very popular in France, so the surname could also be of French origin, though if so it has been respelled in English fashion.
The other regular source of <Dennis> is a Middle English or Old French byname meaning 'Danish'. [3]
The surname <Gillis> is of Gaelic origin. It is an English simplification of the Gaelic given name <Gille Iosa> or <Giolla I/osa>. (The slash represents an acute accent on the previous vowel. The first form is modern Scottish Gaelic; the second is modern Irish Gaelic.) Although occasionally found in Ireland, <Gillis> is much more common in Scotland. [1, 2]
Please be aware that the possible linguistic cultural origins of your surname tell you nothing certain about your ancestry. Many surnames, like <Dennis>, have multiple origins. Moreover, families sometimes drastically change their surnames: an American <St. John> may be descended from an eastern European <Stupianski>, for instance. The only sure way to find out where someone's surname came from is to trace that person's genealogy backwards. This is a task that we have neither the time nor the knowledge to undertake. If you're interested in tracing a genealogy, you may be able to find help in one of the soc.genealogy.* newsgroups.
The common notion of 'family arms' is based on a misunderstanding of the nature of armory. Arms are associated with individuals and in some countries with families, not with surnames, and they are normally transferred by inheritance. Thus, people who shared the same surname without being related would not have shared the same arms. It's likely that quite a few people with the surnames <Dennis> and <Gillis> have borne arms at some time, but those arms would have been associated with them and their descendants, not with their surnames. For a more detailed discussion of these ideas, we recommend the MFAQ posting on rec.heraldry, which you can find on the web at <http://www.heraldica.org/faqs/heraldry.faq>.
Heather Rose Jones and Sharon L. Krossa also contributed to this letter. We hope that it has been helpful.
For the Academy,
Brian M. Scott
[1] Black, George F., _The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning and History_ (New York: The New York Public Library, 1989).
[2] MacLysaght, Edward, _The Surnames of Ireland_ (Blackrock,
[3] Reaney, P.H. & R.M. Wilson, _A Dictionary of English Surnames_ (London: Routledge, 1991).