Adopted 6 October 1936 on Geological Survey sheet 420A, as labelled on BC Lands' map 1EM, 1915, and as originally recommended for adoption by BC Geographic Division in May 1922..

Source: BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office

Named after Tom Ellis (1845-1918), one of the early pioneers in the southern Okanagan. In 1866, Ellis and his partner Andrew McFarlane established a small trading post between Skaha and Okanagan Lakes, adapting the name of their headquarters from Pen-tak-tin, an Okanagan Indian word meaning "permanent abode". Soon after, recognizing the potential of the rangeland, they drove a small herd of cattle from Oregon and established the Penticton Ranch. At one time Ellis owned many square miles of land between Penticton and the International boundary, and sometimes ran as many as 20,000 head of cattle. The original townsite of Penticton was laid out on land purchased from Ellis in 1892. See also "Thomas Ellis: Pioneer cattle baron" in Victoria Times-Colonist (Islander Section), 15-16 November 1981.

Source: BC place name cards, files, correspondence and/or research by BC Chief Geographer/Geographical Names Office.

After Thomas Ellis, first settler in the Penticton area, 1865; first postmaster at Penticton, December 1, 1889. A "cattle baron", he had more than 30,000 acres here and southward to Osoyoos. In 1905 he sold land and 3750 head of cattle to the Southern Okanagan Lake Company for $412,500. (BC Historical Quarterly, vol 4, 1940, p.196, and 6th Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 1935, pp.152, 182-183)

Source: Provincial Archives' Place Names File (the "Harvey File") compiled 1945-1950 by A.G. Harvey from various sources, with subsequent additions