The Scottish surname Gilles is derived from a medieval personal name of which the original form was Latin Aegidius (from Greek aigidion ‘kid’, ‘young goat’). This was the name of a 7th-century Provençal hermit, whose cult popularized the name in a variety of more or less mutilated forms: Gidi and Gidy in southern France, Gili in the area of the Alpes-Maritimes, and Gille elsewhere. This last form was taken over to Scotland by Norman settlers following the 11th Century Norman invasion of Britain. Most bearers of the name Gilles lived in the area around Inverness and Argyll in northwestern Scotland with over 50% of all Gilles living there and the surrounding areas in 1861.
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