Annis Family History

English: from the Middle English female personal name Annes, Old French Anes, vernacular form of Late Latin Agnes, which is in turn an adaptation of the Greek name Hagne ‘pure’, ‘holy’. St. Agnes was a virgin martyr, one of those who suffered under the persecutions of Diocletian in 303 ad. Her name was associated by folk etymology with Latin agnus ‘lamb’, and in medieval art she is often depicted with a lamb (the lamb of God).

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press