Allison (surname)

Allison (surname)

Allison is a family name of English and Scottish origin.

When used as a given name it is traditionally masculine, as opposed to the feminine name Alison.

Allison is interchangeable with the surname Ellison, both surnames holding strong links to the county of Yorkshire, England. The earliest recording of the surname in the British isles is English. Leonard Allison Morrison states in his History of the Alison and Allison family that the family name Allison is interchangeable with Allenson and Alençon. He alludes to a Castle Alençon where the Dukes of Alençon had a family seat in Britain, this family branch being schisms of the Counts and Dukes of Alençon, of Alençon in northern France. This by no means is the only understanding of the origin of the Allison surname. Records of Danish invasions in the ancient history of Britain show that Ali and Eli were common forms of patronymic surnames; this in turn could have given way to Allison and Ellison. The subject of which surname is from which origin is lost in the mixture of the Allison and Ellison surnames over time due to phonetical changing, substituting 'a' for 'e'. There is also speculation over a Scandinavian origin for the surname Allison. A connection to Olafsen or Olsen has been speculated with many northern regions of the British Isles having encounters with Scandinavian culture and peoples. More elementary is the idea that Allison and Ellison are derived from the surname Ellis, with the meaning 'son of Ellis'—a commonly accepted origin in many genealogical books and surname indexes.

Read more about Allison (surname):  List of Persons With The Surname

Famous quotes containing the word allison:

    The horror of class stratification, racism, and prejudice is that some people begin to believe that the security of their families and communities depends on the oppression of others, that for some to have good lives there must be others whose lives are truncated and brutal.
    —Dorothy Allison (b. 1949)