This name is one of the patronymic forms of the surname "Ellis", from the medieval personal name "Elis", which was the normal vernacular form of the biblical name "Elijah". The name was "Elias" in Greek, from the Hebrew "Eliyahn", meaning "Jehovah is God". The popularity of the name among Christians is due partly to the biblical prophet Elijah and partly to the fame of various early saints who adopted the name for example a 7th Century bishop of Syracuse and a 9th Century Spanish martyr. In the modern idiom the surname can be found as "Elliston" or "Ellis(s)on" and means "son of Ellis". One "William Elliston" was an early emigrant to the New World leaving London on the "Dorset" bound for Barbados in September 1635 aged only thirteen. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Ann Elyston, married Eyles Dagwell. which was dated 16th April 1571, in St. Peter Westcheap, London. during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. 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.