Lis

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 17 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Lis is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Russian surname115K records spelled Lis55 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Ukraine, Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus

  Languages: Russian, Ukrainian, Kazakh

  Also written Лис, Лыс, Лес, Лись, Ліс

• English given name67K records spelled Lis16 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Brazil, United States, Netherlands, Germany

  Languages: English, German, Western Frisian

  Also written L-Is, Li'S, Lįs, Lì'S, Lís

• Danish given name56K records spelled Lis8 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Denmark, Norway, United States, Sweden

  Languages: Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, Swedish

  Also written Lïs, Lís

• French given name7.1K records spelled Lis15 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, Spain, United States, Belgium

  Languages: French, Catalan

  Also written Lys, Lÿs, Lîs, Līs, Líş

• Indonesian given name7.0K records spelled Lis4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Indonesia, Malaysia, United States, Peru

  Languages: Indonesian, Malay

  Also written Lïş, Līs

• a separate given name3.0K records spelled Lis3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, India, Spain

  Also written Lís, Lìs

• Finnish given name725 records spelled Lis3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Finland, United States, Russia, Israel

  Languages: Finnish, Estonian

  Also written Lïs

59 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Lis is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• from Polish and Czech dialect lis ‘fox’, a nickname for a cunning person or, in the case of the Jewish name, an ornamental name.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• nickname for a man with a bald pate, from a variant of Czech lysy ‘bald’.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In Polish, ning person or, in the case of the Jewish name, ornamental name, from Pol. lis fox. Vars.: Pol. Lisiak; Lisiecki. Jewish: Liss, Lys(s), Lis(s)man, Lissak. Dims.: Pol.: Lisek, Lisik. Ukr.: Lysenko. Habitation names: Pol.: Lisowski, Liszewski.

  as a name·A dictionary of surnames

• perhaps a habitational name for someone who lived at a house distinguished by the sign of a lily. Old French lis.

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• metronymic from a short form of the personal female names Alice or Elisabeth (see Lies).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

AR datos.gob.ar — nombres.datos.gob.ar per-name lookup (1922–2015) — 48 years between 1933–2015. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Lis Møllerb. 1918DKDanish journalist and politician (1918-1983)
• Lis Hartelb. 1921DKDanish equestrian (1921-2009)
• Lis Verhoevenb. 1931DEGerman actress (1931–2019)
• Lis Nilheimb. 1944SESwedish actress
• Lis Brack-Bernsenb. 1946DKDanish and Swiss mathematician
• Lis Sørensenb. 1955DKDanish singer
• Lis Vegab. 1977CUMexican ballet dancer and singer
• Lis Shoshib. 1994XKKosovan basketball player (born 1994)
• Lis Coleandroactress
• Lis Kernproducer and production manager

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 508 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Lis?

We estimate roughly 34 thousand people bear Lis (counting its spellings and scripts) across 8 countries in our records.

In which country does Lis have the most bearers?

Lis is most frequently recorded in Argentina, where it is most often spelled lis.

Where is Lis most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Lis is densest in Denmark — about 1 in 471 people — even though Argentina holds more of our records for it.

How common is Lis compared with other names?

In Argentina, Lis is the 795th most common given name of 517,176 given names recorded there.

Is Lis a male or female name?

Lis is a female name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.

What does the name Lis mean?

Recorded meaning: Slavic 'fox'; also related forms from LEUTE