Ennis
A surname with two main roots: in Ireland it is commonly a shortened form of Mac Gennis, while in Scotland and elsewhere it can come from a place-name meaning “island.”
The #2,220 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,804 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is explained in the older surname books in two main ways. In Ireland, Ennis is usually treated as a shortened form of the Gaelic Mac Gennis. In Scotland, it is also linked to place-names from Gaelic innis / Irish inis, meaning “island” or sometimes “meadow beside a river,” with the same sense seen in Welsh ynys. The deeper idea is a person named from living at or coming from an island-like place.
History
Older genealogists noted that Ennis could be either an Irish patronymic form or a local name from lands called Innis/Innes. The Scottish Innes family was traditionally associated with lands in Moray, and the name spread in several spellings such as Ennis, Ennes, and Innis. In English records the surname also appears as a Protestant or immigrant surname in later centuries.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same Gaelic root behind Ennis also appears in many Scottish place-names and surnames related to Innes, all built on the idea of an “island” or river-side piece of land.
From the historical record
“ENNESS. See Ennis. ENNIS. A contraction of the Irish Mac Gennis. EISTSIGN. Probably a corruption of Enson, Henson, Henryson. ENSOLL. Seelnsoll. EXSOM. ENSUM. Ensham, co. Ox- ford. ENSOR. The Ensors of Rollesby Hall,”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom