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English: from the Middle English Old French personal name Lewis Leweis Lowis from ancient Germanic (originally West Frankish) Hludwig (itself from hlōd- ‘fame famous’ + wīg- ‘battle’). This was Latinized as Ludovicus and Chlodovisus which were gallicized as Clovis or Clouis French Louis. The name may also appear as Lawis Laweys Lawes by unrounding of the vowel of Lowis on the analogy of the variation between Low and Law as pet forms of Middle English Lourence alias Laurence. This surname is also very common among African Americans. See Laws 2 and compare Lawrence . Welsh: adopted for the Welsh personal name Llywelyn (see Llewellyn ). Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Lughaidh ‘son of Lughaidh’. This is one of the most common Old Irish personal names. It is derived from Lugh ‘brightness’ which was the name of a Celtic god. Americanized form of French Louis . Americanized form of various like-sounding Jewish surnames. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 廖 (see Liao ) 羅 (see Luo ) 劉 (see Liu ).
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022