Last name: Annis

This interesting surname recorded as Annas, Annes, Annice, Anning, Annis, and others, is of either Irish or Anglo-Scottish origin. If Irish it is either a form of the original Gaelic O h'Annaigh, meaning a male descendant of Annach, from Annaigh meaning "iniquity", or from the Hebrew "chane" meaning "he (God) has favoured me with a child". Secondly if English or Scots, it may derive from the female personal name Agnes, from the Greek "hagnos" meaning pure or sacred. Few surnames originate from the first bearer's mother because society has been patriarchal throughout history, resulting in the name of the male head of the household being handed down as a distinguishing name to successive generations. This is a rare exception. Early examples of recordings include Agam Annice of Worcestershire in 1273 in the Hundred Rolls of landowners, whilst John Annes appears in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Sussex in 1296. Two daughters of William and Margaret Anning were christened at St. Clement Danes, Westminster, London, Frances on October 23rd 1732, and Fanny Maria on April 7th 1735. An interesting namebearer, recorded in the "Dictionary of National Biography", was Mary Anning (1799 - 1847), a discoverer of the skeleton of ichtyosaurus in a cliff near Lyme, and subsequently the first specimens of plesiosaursus and pterodactylus. The first recorded spelling of the family name is probably that of Annas de Preston in the year 1170, in the reign of King Henry 11nd of England (1154 - 1189). 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.

Visitor Comments

richard annis
My understanding is that annis may come from ennis as in enniskillen in ireland.This being a corruption of the gaelic work for island

Ben Annis
What We Can Gather From Family Name Is That Our Descendant Came Over From Poland During The War And At The Time The Name Was Agnieshka (don't know how to spell it) but don't know this for a fact

James Annis
I read somewhere it was Viking

April Annis
My dad thought it was Welsh and English- my aunt is a geneaologist and traced our Annis line back three hundered years, from Massachusetts backwwards to Nova Scotia to England

alexis
I've been told its a form of the Scottish name Innes...Which, as one person said before, means island

lewis annis
I find this all very interesting. But have never really looked in to it in any depth. My father and his father and his Fathers father were all called Ernest. Thankfully my sad broke the trend and called me Lewis. Which to be fair also has its cons. Lewis.Annis@yahoo.co.uk Would love a chat if you have any decent Annis indo. Good thred.

Dave
My research tells me it is probably Welsh, or South Western English. Ultimately I believe it not to be Anglo-saxon like you will read everwhere online. It is a name from Roman culture Agnes which would have been popular around 300 CE so, this was after Roman rule left Brittania and before the Saxons and Angles took over Brittain. TO have kept the ANNIS name alive through all that time means they would have probably been fighting to uphold existing "Briton-Roman" culture against the invading Saxons. I believe there is a lot of paralells with King Arthur and the Arthurian "Legends". Also, I believe ENNIS to be a corruption of ANNIS. In our family's annals, it has one member from MAINE stating he had always been told he descended from SCOTS or maybe IRISH. But around the Sub-Roman period, the SCOTS were represented by the PICTS in the North of BRITTANIA and were largely adversarial to the ethnic BRITONS and ROMAN settlers. So, as for ANNIS being Scottish, it is possible, but I think it's more likely BRITON or ethnic english, which is itself CELTIC. So not "Irish" or "Scotish", no, this name pre-dates all of that consequent migration and genetic mixing.

richard annis
if your having a quiet night i suggest you go to the old bailey site and just search annis.all of my family come from east and north london for about the last 220 years. happy to forward details to those of you who may be linked