Gillis
Masculine · “of the goatskin shield”
Gillis is how Dutch and Swedish write a name that English writes as Giles, and it reached America as a surname as well as a first name. The Greek word behind it names an object that has turned into a common English phrase almost nobody can picture.
How old is the name Gillis?
Gillis first appears in US birth records in 1900 — 125 years ago. The typical Gillis alive today was born around 1938, making them about 87 years old. About 300 people named Gillis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Gillis most popular?
Gillis peaked in 1900, reaching #1310 nationally. See the whole 1900 chart.
Where it comes from
From Aegidius to Gillis
The story of Gillis
The aegis was not an abstraction. In the earliest Greek poetry it is a physical thing carried by Zeus and lent to Athena: a goatskin, fringed and tasselled, shaken to terrify an army, and later described as a breastplate or a shield with a gorgon's head on it. The word appears to be built on the ordinary noun for a goat, which fits the description, though ancient writers offered other explanations because a god carrying a goatskin struck them as undignified. English borrowed the phrase under the aegis of in the nineteenth century meaning under someone's protection or sponsorship, and it now turns up in press releases about conferences. The people writing them are describing a thousand-year-old piece of livestock.
Meaning
of the goatskin shield
From a late Latin name built on the Greek word for a young goat, and behind that the goatskin covering that was the aegis. The name reached northern Europe through a hermit saint and was extremely common in the Low Countries and Scandinavia before it faded.
How the name formed
- Aegidius
- Gilles
- Gillis
Related forms: Giles · Gilles · Gillis · Egidio · Gil
Pronouncing Gillis
GILL-iss
Two syllables with the stress at the front and a hard g. Dutch and Swedish speakers say it much the same way, which is unusual for a name that traveled this far.
Nicknames for Gillis
Moderate
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1900
- Most boys named
- 192320 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1310reached in 1900
- Change vs 1985
- +20.0%6 in 2001, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Gillis in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Giles in English — same name
- Gilles in French — same name
- Gillis in Dutch — same name
- Egidio in Italian — same name
- Gil in Spanish — same name
Gilliss among us
people named Gillis are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Gillis sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The hard g is unambiguous, which the English form Giles is not.
- Gil comes off it as a short form used across several languages.
- It is genuinely rare and carries a documented meaning.
- English readers will try a soft g on first sight, giving a different name.
- Gillies and Giles will both be written for it.
- It reads as a surname to American ears, which suits some settings and not others.
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Gillis
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Gilliss are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 300 people named Gillis are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Gillis in 2025?
- Gillis is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Gillis with classmates?
- Gillis will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More G names
The most-given names starting with G, all years combined.
George#126 · Gary#1073 · Gregory#593 · Gerald#1204 · Gabriel#37 · Glenn#1443 · Gavin#303 · Gordon#1051
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Gillis? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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