Challis Family History
Challis Name Meaning
English (southeastern England and East Anglia) of Norman origin: habitational name from either Écalles-Alix (Seine-Maritime) Écalles (in Estouteville-Écalles Seine-Maritime) or Escalles (Pas-de-Calais). The Norman surname is recorded as de Scalers Latinized as de Scalariis which contains the plural form of Late Latin scalaria ‘ladder staircase stile’. It may have been used as a variant of scala and scalae in the naming of one or more of these places the modern forms of which derive from scala(e); see Scales English (southwestern) of Norman origin: habitational name a shortened form of Challons from Chalon-sur-Saône or Châlons-sur-Marne in France.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022