Willis is a surname of English, Norman French, and Scottish origin.
The oldest extant family of the name, the Willes family of Warwickshire, formerly of Newbold Comyn and Fenny Compton, has used the spellings 'Willis,' 'Willys,' and 'Wyllys' and appear in records from 1330.
The Vaux family, established in England by Harold de Vaux, a close relative of William the Conqueror, appears in French records from 794.
[4] Sources of the name notwithstanding, specific notable Willis families (aside from those in Warwickshire, aforementioned) were of: Halsnead, Lancashire (now in Whiston, Merseyside); Atherfield, on the Isle of Wight (and subsequently of an estate named after it at Woldingham, Surrey); and Monk's Barn, Petersfield, Hampshire.
[8][9] Another Humphrey Willis, often conflated with the above Humphrey, was an English soldier and prominent English Civil War clubman, was of a yeomanry/ minor gentry family[10] of Woolavington, Somerset, related on his mother's side to the Pophams of Huntworth.