My surname Vilyus? origin?

Question:

My surname Vilyus? origin?

I am American and have so many different things in my blood all from Europe I am pretty sure. My family has been living in this country for a very long time.Pretty much my whole life my family has told me that my name is Hungarian and that my family immigrated to England in the 1800's and were forced to change there name to Willis. They have told me that my name was probably longer before they immigrated and when they came to America they change it back to a Hungarian name.

I have recently found a map that belonged to my great-great-grandfather, the map is from Lithuania and it shows a river named Vilyus and looks extremely old.Also recently when I had to go to court when I was talking to the judge he asked if my name was Lithuanian, he had a rather weird name like me. So do you guys have a hunch on where the name may come from or where I can get some info about. Thanks in advance

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Vilyus? Vilnius? 19th century Polish/Lithuanian, Hungarian? You gave closer to the Russian invader spelling. Put an N in there and see what you find. Search engine will give you historical info &c on Vilnius Lithuania.

#1 is to key into genealogy software all you can learn from your living elders about your family history: full names, dates and places of births, marriages and deaths. Order what genealogy copy documents you can from those, they'll give you one more generation back (parents). Visit family cemeteries for more info, and where you cannot try to find them online or a way to contact someone across the pond who may be able to get information. Check out immigration records on your ancestors too!

See what you can find at the "trees" and surname and place message boards at ancestry.com, rootsweb.com and genforum.com.