Ellis

What Ellis means

Means “benevolent, kind”

As a Welsh surname, shortened from the personal name Elisse, Elisedd, from the archaic elus (“benevolent, kind”).

Source: Wiktionary, “Ellis” (revision 93606153), CC BY-SA 4.0. Quoted from the etymology; we don’t write our own.

How popular is Ellis?

US: Rising: up from #422 in 2015. England & Wales: Steady: #90 in 2015, #92 now.

Biggest US share so far: 1899, when 98 boys got the name (#154 that year). First in the US records in 1880.

How common

• About 1 in 1,205 baby boys in the US in 2025
• About 1 in 467 baby boys in England and Wales in 2025
• About 1 in 385 baby boys in Scotland in 2025

“1 in N” divides by all listed births for that sex. The US list leaves out names given to fewer than 5 babies, and the UK lists leave out names given to 2 or fewer, so the real figure is a little rarer than shown.

Where in the US

Most popular in ME (2.6 per 1,000 boys), DC (2.37 per 1,000 boys), ND (2.09 per 1,000 boys) in 2025.

SSA state data, 2025. Share of all listed boys born in each state.

US vs UK

Ellis is #243 in the US and #92 in England & Wales (2025).

Same sex as this page (boys). SSA (US), ONS (England and Wales), NRS (Scotland).

Boy or girl?

In 2025, 77.3% of US babies named Ellis were boys.

Counts below the publishing threshold (US 5, UK 3) are not included.

How to say it

IPA from Wiktionary.

Other spellings parents chose in 2025

• Elis11 US · 119 E&W
• Alois8 US · 4 E&W
• Eloise5 US

Names that sound the same and differ by a letter or two, with baby counts for the same sex. US and E&W counts.

If you like Ellis

Boys

• Rhett#188“advice”^*
• Dean#125“valley”^*
• Ford#474Editor’s note Up from #741 in 2015 to #474 in 2025 in the US
• Wells#345“spring”^*
• Hayes#162“brushwood”^*
• Elliott#160“my God is Yahweh”^*

For a sister

• Blakely#191Editor’s note More popular in the US than England & Wales: #191 vs #1,407 in 2025
• Winifred#922Editor’s note Up from #1,437 in 2015 to #922 in 2025 in the US
• Sutton#181“south + town”^*
• Carter#454“son of Arthur”^*
• Gwendolyn#360Variant of Gwendolen, meaning “white, fair, blessed + ring, bow…^*
• Merritt#703Editor’s note Used for both: 77% of US babies named Merritt in 2025 were girls

Picked from the US top 1,000 in 2025: names Wiktionary also files under From a surname, Irish & Celtic, whose US popularity since 1990 rose and fell most like Ellis’s. Rank is US 2025.