Dills
A surname with several possible roots, most likely from a nickname or a place-name rather than a single fixed origin.
The #8,494 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 79,615 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Dills is not securely explained by the excerpted source, which only mentions a Manx word resembling the form and meaning a kind of seaweed or edible marine plant. In English surname practice, Dills may also have arisen as a variant of a simpler surname such as Dill, or from a local name or nickname built on that base. Because the evidence here is indirect, the safest view is that the name has an uncertain origin with possible English and Manx associations.
History
The modern surname is uncommon in the United States and likely represents more than one family line. In some cases it may be connected to older spellings of Dill or related forms, while in others it may reflect later spelling variation. The provided source is suggestive rather than definitive, so no single historical pathway can be stated with confidence.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The Manx word cited in the source refers to an edible seaweed, showing how local dialect words sometimes ended up near family-name research even when they were not actual surname entries.
From the historical record
“Dullish, dyllish (F), ' a sea-weed, which is eaten either wet or dried, liver worts, dills, from dtiill, s. leaf, and tish or tishtey, water ' (Gi) ; ' a marine eatable leaf (C) ; in Traie Dullish, * Sea-weed Shore.' Corkey (M), ' oats ;' in Ballacorkey, * Oats Farm.' [(I) Farranacurkey.]”
— The Surnames & Place-Names of the Isle of Man