Ellis
Meaning and origin
Wiktionary describes it as a surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic] and A male given name from Welsh, an anglicization of Elisedd. * 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”).
Source: Wiktionary, English entry for Ellis (CC BY-SA 4.0). This is the origin of the name in English; families in Sweden may have taken it from another language.
Popularity in Sweden
Among newborns, Ellis has been fairly steady over the last few years. Its best year between 1998 and 2022 was 2020. The figures are for this exact spelling; other spellings of the name are counted on their own.
Years with fewer than two babies (fewer than ten before 2004) show as zero in the chart and as – in the table.
Show the figures
| Year | Girls | Boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1998 | – | – |
| 1999 | – | – |
| 2000 | – | – |
| 2001 | – | – |
| 2002 | – | – |
| 2003 | – | – |
| 2004 | 2 | – |
| 2005 | – | 2 |
| 2006 | – | 3 |
| 2007 | 2 | 6 |
| 2008 | 2 | 5 |
| 2009 | – | 12 |
| 2010 | – | 6 |
| 2011 | 4 | 8 |
| 2012 | 4 | 21 |
| 2013 | 4 | 10 |
| 2014 | 6 | 20 |
| 2015 | 6 | 28 |
| 2016 | 5 | 28 |
| 2017 | 3 | 27 |
| 2018 | 5 | 24 |
| 2019 | 4 | 34 |
| 2020 | 12 | 36 |
| 2021 | – | 28 |
| 2022 | 2 | 33 |
Everyone registered in Sweden on 31 December with this as the first name they use.
Show the figures
| Year | Women and girls | Men and boys |
|---|---|---|
| 1999 | 83 | 13 |
| 2000 | 80 | 13 |
| 2001 | 80 | 14 |
| 2002 | 79 | 14 |
| 2003 | 79 | 19 |
| 2004 | 78 | 19 |
| 2005 | 76 | 21 |
| 2006 | 73 | 23 |
| 2007 | 73 | 30 |
| 2008 | 73 | 33 |
| 2009 | 71 | 47 |
| 2010 | 70 | 54 |
| 2011 | 72 | 61 |
| 2012 | 76 | 83 |
| 2013 | 75 | 96 |
| 2014 | 80 | 115 |
| 2015 | 81 | 140 |
| 2016 | 84 | 168 |
| 2017 | 83 | 193 |
| 2018 | 87 | 223 |
| 2019 | 90 | 258 |
| 2020 | 100 | 297 |
Ellis in a sentence
- Hej! Jag heter Ellis.Hi! My name is Ellis.
- Vet du om Ellis kommer på festen på lördag?Do you know if Ellis is coming to the party on Saturday?
- Jag ska fika med Ellis i eftermiddag.I'm having coffee with Ellis this afternoon.
- Ellis mamma är lärare.Ellis's mum is a teacher.
Swedish shows possession with a plain -s and no apostrophe: Ellis mamma is Ellis's mum. Because Ellis already ends in s, nothing is added.
Related names and other spellings
More names
Questions about Ellis
How do you pronounce Ellis in Swedish?
Press Listen at the top of the page to hear Ellis in your device's Swedish voice.
What does the name Ellis mean?
Wiktionary describes it as a surname from Welsh [in turn originating as a patronymic] and A male given name from Welsh, an anglicization of Elisedd. * 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”).
How popular is Ellis in Sweden?
35 babies were named Ellis in 2022. In 2020, 397 people in Sweden had Ellis as the first name they go by. Among newborns the name has been fairly steady lately and peaked in 2020 in the years SCB covers (1998–2022).
Popularity figures: Statistics Sweden (SCB), name statistics (BE0001) from the Statistical Database, released as open data under CC0. Each spelling is counted as its own name, as SCB does. SCB's open name statistics end with babies named in 2022 and the population on 31 December 2020; SCB stopped producing name statistics in 2024 and now points to the Swedish Tax Agency (Skatteverket) for newer figures.
Origins, IPA and recordings: Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0), via kaikki.org; recordings from Lingua Libre on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA). Lingolib is not affiliated with SCB or Wiktionary. Sources last checked 7 October 2026.