Bills
Bills is usually an English surname that can be a patronymic form linked to Bill, itself a short form of William.
The #3,552 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 30,718 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Bills is generally understood as a plural or possessive form built on the personal name Bill, a familiar short form of William. In that sense it means something like “Bill’s family” or “descendant of Bill.” Some older writers also mention Bills in the context of surnames formed from nicknames or local naming habits, but the Bill-as-William explanation is the standard one.
History
The name appears in English records as a surname and is most often treated as one of the many family names derived from a given name rather than a place. Historical surname collections sometimes group Bills with Bill and Billson. The modern distribution in English-speaking countries, especially the United States, fits a surname that was carried over from Britain rather than one tied to a single locality.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname scholars sometimes noted that some English surnames ending in -s could behave like family labels meaning “the Bills family,” not just simple plurals.
From the historical record
“ment. BILLS. BILLSON. See Bill and Bilke above. BILLY. N'otfrom'\Yilliam,butfrom aplace in thearroudissementof Caen, inNormandj'. Also a comrade, compaiuon. Jamiesou. BILNEY. Parishes in Norfolk, BILTON. Places in cos. York and Wai-wick.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom