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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. English: possibly in some instances from the Middle English female personal name Elice a pet form of Elizabeth . 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. Americanized form of some original Jewish (Ashkenazic) surname (most likely based on Yiddish form of the Biblical personal name Elijah).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022