Millis

This name is a Medieval English or Scottish topographical surname, given originally to someone who lived near a mill, and is derived from the Middle English 'mille, milne', mill, a development of the Old English pre 7th Century 'mylen(e)', itself from the Latin 'molina', a derivative of 'molere', to grind. The surname gradually came to be used as an occupational name for a worker at a mill, and indeed sometimes for the miller himself, a respected and important position in medieval communities, where the mill was a central part of the settlement. It was powered by water wind, or, sometimes, animals, and usually operated by an agent of the local landowner. The villagers were compelled to bring their corn to the miller to be ground into flour, and to pay for the service with a proportion of their grain. The modern surname can be found as Mill, Mills, Millis, Mille, Milne(s), Millman and Mullen. The marriage of Thomas Millis and Susan Leeche was recorded in All Saints, Chichester, Sussex, on July 30th 1599. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Myls, which was dated 1336, Calendar of Letter Books of the City of London, during the reign of King Edward 111, 'The Father of the Navy', 1327-1377. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.