allis

Allis is a name that occurs in several distinct contexts, including as a surname and as part of corporate names. It is found in English-language records and may derive from given names such as Adel, Adal, or Alice, or from a local place name. As a surname, Allis has been borne by various individuals in science, sport, and the arts; in biology, for example, the American molecular biologist David Allis is known for work on chromatin and histone modification.

Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company, commonly known as Allis-Chalmers, was a major American manufacturer formed in 1905 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, by the merger of the Edward P. Allis Company and Fraser & Chalmers. The firm produced a wide range of machinery, including agricultural tractors, mining equipment, and power generation equipment. The Allis-Chalmers brand became widely associated with mid-20th-century farm and industrial machinery. The company faced financial difficulties in the 1980s and ultimately declared bankruptcy, with its assets distributed to other manufacturers and brands.

Beyond surname and corporate usage, Allis occasionally appears in geographic or organizational names, but these uses are far less common than the surname or company references. The term is therefore most often encountered in discussions of genealogy, industrial history, and classic agricultural machinery.