Ellis : 1: English: from the Middle English personal name Elis an Old French vernacular form of Elias the Latin and New Testament Greek form of Hebrew Eliyahu; see Elijah and compare Elias Lias Ely. This surname is also common among African Americans.2: English: possibly in some instances from the Middle English female personal name Elice a pet form of Elizabeth.3: Welsh: from Elis a shortened form of the Welsh personal name Elisse (earlier Elisedd a derivative of elus ‘kindly benevolent’). As usual in Welsh the stress in Elisse is on the penultimate syllable -li- which shifts to initial El- when the name is shortened to Elis. It later became confused with Ellis in 1 above.4: Americanized form of some original Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname (most likely based on Yiddish form of the Biblical personal name Elijah).
Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain, ©2021, University of the West of England
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