Ellis

Where Ellis comes from

* As an English surname, from the Middle English personal name Elis, an Old French form of Elias. Compare Elijah, Lias, Ely. Also sometimes from the Elice, a pet form of Elizabeth. * As a Welsh surname, shortened from the personal name Elisse, Elisedd, from the archaic elus (“benevolent, kind”).
— Wiktionary's entry for Ellis
  • Welsh
  • From a surname
  • 2 syllables
Along the way
  1. 1880
    First SSA year
    Already #209 among boys — 58 babies in the first year on record.
  2. 1899
    Peak, #154
    98 babies named Ellis — more than any year before or since.
  3. 1917
    Ellis Clarke born
    last Governor-General and first President of Trinidad and Tobago
  4. 1934
    Ellis Marsalis Jr. born
    American jazz pianist and educator
In the dictionary
  • A surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic] and A male given name from Welsh, an anglicization of Elisedd.
  • A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
Namesakes
  • Ellis Marsalis Jr. · American jazz pianist and educator, 1934–2020
  • Ellis Clarke · last Governor-General and first President of Trinidad and Tobago, 1917–2010
  • Ellis Ferreira · South African tennis player, born 1970
  • Ellis Rowan · Australian artist, botanical illustrator and botanical collector, 1848–1922
  • Ellis Simms · English association football player, born 2001

Sources: the origin note and dictionary entry are quoted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); the namesakes come from Wikidata (CC0); the milestones are worked out from the SSA record.