This unusual and interesting name is a dialectual variant of the locational name Lillingstone from a place so called in Buckinghamshire. The earliest recorded spelling of this name is Lillingestan, recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 in Buckinghamshire. The derivation is from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Lytelstan", "the stone of Lytel's people" (Lytel, being a personage of unknown origin). In the Middle Ages when migration was becoming more common, people adopted their village name as a means of identification, resulting in a wide dispersal of the name. One Elizabeth Lillistone, an infant was christened in 1657 at St. Andrews, Holborn, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Richard Lilliston married Ellsabeth Claie, which was dated 1563, St. Olaves, Old Jewry, London, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 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.

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