Would EI be just another name for the Sumarian chief god E-A (a.k.a. En-Ki)?
Yes, Enki is often equated with El in Canaan, in the same way that the Greek god Zeus is equated with the Roman god Jupiter, although Enki wasn't considered as the Sumrian 'chief' god, that was actualy his brother, Enlil.
Enki was the god of wisdom, magic and water, and also mischief too, and, mythology-wise, also had quite a lot in common with the God of Israel, Yahweh. He is also found in Hurrian and Hittite mythology as a god of contracts or covenants, and is considered as particularly favourable to humankind, infact in Sumerian mythology it is his idea to create humans after the lesser gods, known as the 'Igigi', who were tasked with tending to creation and labouring, rebelled against the dictatorship of Enlil, set fire to their tools, went on strike and even surrounded Enlil's house by night, all because they didn't like toiling on irrigation channels. According to the myth, Enki suggested that the gods solve this problem by creating humans for the purpose of carrying out the Igigi's agricultural labour and so humans were created by mixing earth with the blood of a god called 'Kingu'.
Later in Sumerian mythology, Enlil decides to kill off humanity because they had overbred and become too numerous and were being noisy and disturbing his rest, so he sends drought, famine and plague against the humans, but Enki teaches Atra Hasis (the hero of the Sumerian flood myth who also appears on one of the Sumerian king lists as the king of Shuruppak in the times before the flood) how to counter these. Enlil then gathers the Council of Deities and gets them to promise not to tell humankind that he plans their total annihilation via a flood. Enki does not tell Atra Hasis directly, but speaks to him in secret via a reed wall, which is actualy kinda reminiscent of the way that 'oracles' (particularly the oracle of Delphi) used to operate. He warns him about the coming flood and instructs him to build a boat from his house (made of reeds) in order to save his family and other living creatures. After seven days, he frees a swallow, a raven and a dove in an effort to find if the flood waters have receded.
Enlil is enraged that he had been thwarted again, and his brother Enki is named as the culprit, but Enki explains that Enlil was unfair to punish the humans who were guiltless, so the gods institute measures to ensure that humanity does not become too numerous again.
This has so many similarities with the much later Abrahamic mythology, it seems pretty obvious that Abrahamic mythology was, at least in part, based upon or influenced by the Sumerian mythology.
It also seems to smack slightly of actual historicity. Humans were created to irrigate creation (the earth) but then bred to vast numbers, resulting in famine and plague, this sounds like the early days of agriculture, which included the invention of irrigation and which we know was first developed in the same area as the Sumerians and eventualy led to the development of civilisation, the building of towns and cities, which brought overcrowding, disease, etc.
But I digress, and this is in danger of getting 'off topic' again, so I'll leave it there.
