The origin of last names has been an interest of mine recently. Last names answer questions, such as: 'Who is / was the person's father?', 'What does this person do for a living?', 'Who is / was this person's grandfather?', 'What individual traits or skills does this person exhibit?'.
My last name is Ellis.
English and Welsh: from the medieval personal name Elis, a vernacular form of Elijah (see Elias). In Wales this surname absorbed forms derived from the Welsh personal name Elisedd, a derivative of elus ‘kindly’, ‘benevolent’.
ObELISon.