Ellis

English surname derived from Elijah or Elias or Welsh

"my God is Yahweh; benevolent"

Ellis Origin and Meaning

The name Ellis is a boy's name of English, Welsh origin meaning "my God is Yahweh; benevolent".

Ellis is a former Old Man Name turned gender-neutral choice for the 21st century. It's one of the less used names in the currently popular El-family, unless you're in the UK, where it's a Top 100 choice.

Ellis has two separate roots: on one hand, it's an English surname, derived from Elias and Elijah, Greek and Hebrew names meaning "my God is Yahweh". On the other hand, it's popular Welsh name, also spelled as Elis, ultimately from the Old Welsh Elisedd (eh-lih-seth), meaning "benevolent, kind".

Ellis Bell was the male pseudonym of Emily Bronte when she wrote Wuthering Heights, while Ellis Marsalis is the paterfamilias of the noted jazz family, father of Wynton, Branford and others. There have been a number of Ellises on the big and small screen too: in The Wire, Grey's Anatomy and No Country for Old Men. As a surname, it's associated with designer Perry, writer Bret Easton and psychologist Havelock.

Predominantly used as a boy name in England and Wales, where it was given to 570 boys compared to 24 girls in recent stats, in the US, it is a unisex option, in the Top 1000 for both sexes. Masculine leaning, it was given to 1250 boys and 400 girls, meaning roughly three quarters of all babies called Ellis were boys in a recent year.

Ellis Rank in US Top 1000

# 273 in the US

Ellis Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

# 32 on Nameberry

Popularity of the name Ellis

• 273 US 2024
• 32 Nameberry 2025
• 40 Unisex 2024
• 147 Future 2028
• 95 England 2024
• 107 scotland 2024

20 Names Similar to Ellis

These 20 names were selected by our users that were looking for other names like Ellis.

• Finnegan
• Lachlan
• Callum
• Alden
• Sullivan
• Rory
• Graham
• Emmett
• Everett
• Rhys
• Dashiell
• Beckett
• Cormac
• Fletcher
• Holden
• Bennett
• Griffin
• Anders
• Emerson
• Wesley

Famous People Named Ellis

• Ellis Paul (born Paul Plissey) American singer,songwriter
• Ellis Charles Wackett Australian Air Force commander
• Ellis Andrew Stones Australian landscape architect
• Ellis Ashmead Bartlett, English war correspondant
• Ellis Lankster American football player
• Ellis James O'Leary (b. 2013) son of TV host Samantha Brown and Kevin O'Leary; twin sister Elizabeth Mae
• Bret Easton Ellis American novelist
• Herbert Douglas 'Doug' Ellis English soccer club chairman
• Ellis Allen English journalist and biographer
• Lindsay Ellis media critic

The name Ellis in Pop Culture

• Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding character in film "The Shawshank Redemption"
• Ellis Jones character in film "The Age of Adaline"
• Ellis Shepherd son of Derek and Meredith on TV's "Grey's Anatomy"
• Ellis character in the 2012 movie "Mud"
• Ellis character in Left 4 Dead 2
• Ellis character in TV's Parks and Recreation
• Ellis Island a small island in New York Harbor that famously welcomed immigrants to the United States
• Ellis Stevens character in TV's From

International Variations of the name Ellis

• Elis Welsh