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Origins of the Name “Balsillie” As with many family names, there is a lot of room for conjecture about the origins of the name, Balsillie. To my knowledge, there are several versions, which may to some extent be contradictory. The first version I came across was told to me by my mother. It says that in 1537, Mary of Guise was accompanied by among others, two brothers named Balsillie (or possibly Balsillier) when she traveled from France to Scotland to marry the Scottish King, James V. One or both brothers were instrumental in saving at least one of the ships of the fleet carrying Mary of Guise from floundering at Crail in Fife and as a reward were given land. This family “legend” has currency in some other (so far unconnected) branches of the family. This version would suggest the name to be of French origin. The Scottish Historian, George Francis Black, in his book “The Surnames of Scotland”, records: The above information is also included in a “Famiily Name History” certificate produced commercially for sale. Another version suggests that Balsillie or Balsellie is a rare Scottish surname with “Bal” being a ““boundary or boundary marker for a barony, parish, etc” and “sele” being a “woodland or copse”. A few years ago I met a Scottish publican in an Irish pub in New York. He claimed that the name means “Of Leslie”. The suggestion here is that Bal is from Baile, a town or place, and “sillie” is a corruption of Leslie. This suggestion might also be extended to suggest that the family is in some way connected with the clan Leslie. There are of course many Scottish place and family names commencing with “Bal” (Balmoral, Balcombe, etc). Adjacent to the town of Leslie in Fife lies Balsillie Laws, a low rise extending parallel to the northern side of the town, and once the site of Roman fortifications. On the northern side of the Laws lies Balsillie farm, shown on some very old maps as simply “Balsillie”. Balsillie farm is currently in possession of a company quarrying into the Laws. Not so long ago, I met a Gaelic speaking woman in Ireland. She believed the name means “ from corn town”. As with the previous version, the “Bal” means “town or place of”, but that the “sillie” is from the gaelic “sihlo”, or “silo” in English. Originally, a silo was a corn store. This dated from the middle ages, prior to the introduction of Indian maize from the Americas, when “corn” meant any grain (including, incidentally, salt – hence corned beef.)
A search of the Dictionary of the Scottish Language reveals another meaning of “sillie” dating to 1567: “happy, prosperous, blessed, fortunate”.
Vida Brown of Scotland now adds another version. She says that according to an old book on names, Bal de Syly means “place of the willows”. She adds that when she visited Balsillie Farm in Leslie she found that the roadway up to the farmhouse was lined with willow trees (which are now longer there). Comment: The records show that the Balsillie name pre-dates the arrival of Mary of Guise in Scotland. Together with the range of possible Gaelic meanings to the name, this suggests that the origins are Scottish rather than French. However, the connection with Mary of Guise remains strong. It is understood that James V sent five hundred knights to France to escort Mary back to Scotland. It is quite possible that two brothers of the Balsillie family were in this party. This is supported by the inclusion of the Cross of Lorraine in the family badge. The story of one or both of them saving one of the ships at Crail is strengthened by the place-name “Balsillie Hynd”, which applied to a location adjacent to Crail until the nineteenth century.
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