'Ealing' means the people of a Saxon called Gilla.
The Gillingas, a Saxon tribe named after a patriarch or chief called Gilla, appear in a charter of Æthelred of Mercia around the year 700. The name was later written Yllinges, around 1170, and Elyng in 1553. Ealing village itself was also known as Church Ealing in 1274 and as Great Ealing from 1593.