Now there was a certain man of Ramathaim Zophim, of the hill-country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jeroham, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuph, an Ephraimite:
The fact of Elkanah's being called in this passage "an Ephraimite" merely means that, like all Levites, he was attached to the tribe of Ephraim in and legal matters.  "Elkanah is called an Ephraimite, because, as far as his standing was concerned, he belonged to the tribe of Ephraim, just as the Levite in  Judges 17:7 is described as belonging to the tribe of Judah."[4]