This interesting surname recorded in a variety of spellings including Sellars, Sellers, and Sellors (English ), and Sillars and Sillers (Scottish), has at least four possible origins. Firstly may be a metonymic occupational name for someone employed in the cellars of a great house or monastery. If so the derivation is from the Anglo-French word celler meaning an underground room suitable for keeping food. Secondly, it may be an occupational name for a saddler, from the word seller, which originally denoted a saddler. Thirdly, it may be an occupational name for a tradesman or merchant, from an agent derivative of the Middle English word "sellen" meaning to sell or deliver, although it may also refer to a silver smith. Finally, it may be a topographical name for someone who lived in a cottage deriving from the Old English pre 7th century word "gesell". Early examples of recordings include William Sellerarius in the registers of the Knight Templars of England in the 12th century, and later in the London church records Dorothie Sellers, who married William Boswell on March 17th 1602, at St. Giles Cripplegate. In Scotland the first recording is much later with John Sillars being recorded in the records of the city of Glasgow in 1719. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Alriz Sellere. This was dated 1086, in the recordfs known as the Inquisitio Eliensis of Cambridgeshire, during the reign of King William 1st of England, 1066 - 1087. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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