Ell(e) Surname

German and Dutch: metonymic occupational name for a dealer in cloth or a tailor, from Middle High German, Middle Low German el(l)e ‘yardstick’, ‘length of the lower arm’.
German: from a short form, Edilo, from any of various Germanic personal names composed with adal ‘noble family’.
English: from the female personal name Ela, a reduced form of Elena and possibly also of Eleanor.

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4