A Scottish and Northern Irish surname of Wallace which originally came from Anglo-Norman French term of 'waleis'. An Old English term '' means . Over the centuries it has come to refer to someone arriving in Scotland from Wales. It can also denote a Welsh-speaking Scotsman who is from western Scotland around the city of Glasgow.

Additional spellings for Wallace include Wallach, Wallice, Wallang, Walens, Waless, Waleyss, Walla and Wallis.

Scotland has Wallace families all over the region. Most are concentrated in the central and eastern portions of the area.

In northern England, those bordering Scotland have a large population of Wallace families, especially Lancashire and Durham. A good-sized population of Wallaces are also in London.

Texas, Missouri, Ohio, California, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Illinois have the higher percent of those with the Wallace surname in the United States.

Famous: William Wallace (13th century Scottish commander and guardian of Scotland), Mike Wallace (news reporter), David Wallace (actor), George Wallace (Governor of Alabama), John Findlay Wallace (early 20th century engineer for the Panama Canal), Rusty Wallace (race car driver), Bob Wallace (founder of the auto Lamborghini from New Zealand) and DeWitt Wallace (co-founder of the magazine Reader’s Digest).