Helistones meaning | Last name Helistones origin

Surname is an adaptation of Halson. Alison1. The son of Hal or Henry. 2. The same as - William Alis occurs in Domesday as a chief tenant in Hampshire under the Conqueror, and he was probably the patriarch of the large tribe of the Ellises, as well as of the Ellisons, Alisons, Fitz Ellises, etc. See under Ellis - In the whole range of family nomenclature there is perhaps no name which admits of more variety of origin, or a greater number of differing forms. "Elles or Ellis in British," says Hals, in D. Gilbert's Cornwall, "is a son-in law by the wife, and Els or Ells, a son - in law by the husband." Ella or Ælla is a well known regal name of Anglo-Saxon times, and its genitive form would in later days become Ellis. From these two sources some of our very numerous families may have sprung, but there is little doubt that the surname Ellis has for the most part been formed from the scripture name Elias, which does not occur as an Anglo-Saxon name, but which was in use in France as early as the days of Charlemagne, as a baptismal designation, and afterwards gave name to several families of Elie. Elias, though uncommon now as a Christian name, was not so in the early Norman reigns, and indeed it had become hereditary at the time of the Norman Conquest, in the form of Alis. William Alis, mentioned in Domesday and by Orderious Vitalis, was progenitor of the Ellises of Kiddal, county of York, and Stoneacre, county of Kent, from whom sprang Sir Archibald Ellys, a crusader temp. Richard I., who is said to have originated the cross and crescents so common to the Ellis coat- armour. Ellis in later times, both in Wales and England, became a common personal name, and consequently there are in both countries many families of distinct origin. See ‘Notices of the Ellises,' London 1857.

and Peds. of Ellis and Fitz -Ellis in “Topographer and Ge nealogist,' vol. iii. The principal forms of this name in the H.R. are Eleys, Elice, Elies, Elis, Elys; and other proven variations are Alis, Halis, Elias, Helias, Ellys, Elles, Hellis, Hellys, Hilles,Helles, Hollys, Holys, Holles, Iles, Ilys, Eyles, and Eales. Of course several of these forms are etymologically traceable to other and very different sources. Ellison, Alison, and Fitz-Ellis are also well-known surnames.

It may be remarked that the vulgar pronunciation of Ellis in the South is exactly the same as that of the female personal name Alice. The prevalence of the Christian name Archibald, and the use of the fleur-de-lis by the Alisons support this conjecture.

Helistones is form of Hailstone. Alestan is Athelstan, the ancient personal name. An Alestan was a tenant in chief in county of Hants at the making of Domesday. The surname may, however, be local, either from Hailston, a burn in county of Stirling, famous for its blocks of jasper, or from Ailston-hill near Hereford.