• Home
    • About the Guild
    • About one-name studies
    • Starting your ONS
    • Conducting ONS (videos)
    • Join Us
    • Guild Shop
  • Studies
    • Surnames A-Z
    • Recent registrations
    • Study websites
    • Available Studies
    • Registered Societies
  • News
    • General News
    • Guild Public Newsletters
  • Forums
    • Guild Facebook page
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • Conference
    • Seminar Events
    • Guild Webinars
  • Resources
    • Guild Journal
    • Members’ Websites Project
    • Guild Blog Program
    • DNA
    • Modern Surnames
    • Those Who Served
    • Guild Indexes
    • Pharos ONS Courses
    • Speakers
    • New Knowledge Zone
    • Fun Zone
    • Knowledge Zone – Seminars & Conference
  • Help
    • Reset your password
  • Log In
  • Contact Us
    • Available Studies
      • Available Studies

Guild of One-Name Studies

One-name studies, Genealogy

Is your surname here?

    • 2,348 members
    • 2,199 studies
    • 7,846 surnames

Wales

Ap Rheinallt, Maredudd. ‘Cyfenwau gogledd orllewin Cymru yn 1841’ [The Surnames of North West Wales in 1841] Transactions of the Caernarvonshire Historical Society , 64 (2003), 50-65.
Abstract: author "The article includes distribution maps based on frequency of surnames in the old county of Gwynedd (which included Anglesey and other areas now in neighbouring counties) in the 1841 census. There is also a statistical analysis showing correlation between the general surname patterns of specific areas…"

Ashley, David J. B. and H. Duncan Davies. "The use of the surname as a genetic marker in Wales." Journal of Medical Genetics , no. 3(1966): 203-11.
Abstract: Lawson2 "Includes list of 66 Welsh surnames including identification of the 35 most common"

Bardsley, Charles Wareing. A dictionary of English and Welsh surnames with special American Instances. London: Henry Frowde, 1901.

Benjamin, E. A. "A statistical comparison of the principal surnames in use in Penarth in 1881 with those in use in Aberystwyth 1871." Ceredigion (1982): 257-59.

Benjamin, E A. "The Welsh patronymic custom." Local Historian 17, no. 7(1987).

Davies, Phillips G. "Names in the west enclave in Jackson, Ohio (1880-1908)." Journal of the North Central Name Society (Fall 1987): 28-35.
Abstract: Lawson2

Fisher, R. A. and Janet Vaughan. "Surnames and blood groups." Nature , no. 144(1939): 1047-48.
Notes: reprinted in ‘Collected Papers of R.A. Fisher (Adelaide: University of Adelaide,1971-1974)
Abstract: Lawson2: "Used Welsh surnames Davis, Edwards, Harris, Jones, Lewis, Morgan, Phillips and Roberts to identify a Welsh sample for the study of blood types in Britain."

Fowkes, Robert A. "Welsh naming practices, with a comparative look at Cornish." Names , no. 29(1981): 265-72.
Abstract: Lawson1: "Discussion of naming practices in Wales and Cornwall with some examples of patronymics (Jines, Williams), descriptive names (Lloyd, "grey…), occupational names (Hughes the Carpenter), Jones the Draper), location names (Mostyn the Grove, Evans the School), nicknames (Will Mouth, Ned One-Eye) and others. Numerous examples. 18 refs."

________. "Welsh surnames of occupational origin." Names , no. 41(1994): 288-97.

Higgins, H. ‘Welsh surnames’. Proceedings of the Llandudno, Colwyn Bay & District Field Club, 19 (1939 for 1935-8), 48-59.

Hughes, B. J. H. Hearth Tax 1670 : more names in the history of Pembrokeshire. 1999.
Notes: 108 p.

________. Land Tax, Castlemartin Hundred 1791/2. B.H.J. Hughes, 1992.
Notes: 69 p.

Hughes, Mark. "The distribution of Welsh surnames." Genealogists’ Magazine 19(1977): 61-62.
Abstract: Lawson1: "Comment on Leeson."

Leeson, Frank. "The distribution of Welsh surnames." Genealogists’ Magazine 19, no. 1(March 1977): 16-17.
Abstract: Lawson1: "Shows the distribution of 26 common surnames in 13 counties in Wales. Among the names are : Davies, Edwards, Evans, and Griffiths. 2 refs."

Lloyd, Annie. Welsh surnames and given names and their meaning. A. Lloyd, 1996.

Morgan, Gerald. "Welsh names in Welsh wills." Local Historian 25, no. 3 (August 1995): 178-85.

Morgan, Prys. Background to Wales : a course of studies in modern welsh life. Llandybie: Christopher Davies, 1968.
Notes: 91p.
Abstract: Lawson2: "Chapter 2 (pp16-22) is devoted to Welsh surnames."

________. "Locative surnames in Wales: a preliminary list." Nomina, no. 14 (1990): 17-23.
Abstract: It has long been assumed that all Welsh surnames are based on patronymics, and it is true that the great majority are. But that gives a misleading impression, for several hundreds of place-names in Wales have, over the centuries, given rise to surnames, as will be made clear by the list printed here.

________. "Placename as surname in Wales." National Library of Wales Journal 29 (1995): 63-75.

________." The place-name as surname in Wales" in  Names, time and place : essays in memory of Richard McKinley, edited by Della Hooke and David Postles. Leopard’s Head Press, 2003, pp 101-116.

________. "The rise of Welsh hereditary surnames." Nomina , no. 10(1986): 121-35.

Morgan, Thomas John and Prys Morgan. Welsh surnames. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1985.

Morris, E.R. ‘Notes on some “Montgomeryshire” surnames’ Cronicl. 4, 1982

Morris, E.R. ‘Welsh surnames in the border counties of Wales’ Y Cymmrodor xliii, 1932

Paddock, E.A. ‘The evolution of surnames’. Transactions of the Caradoc & Severn Valley Field Club, 10:4 (1939), 236-43.

Padel, O. J. "Locational surnames in fourteenth-century Denbighshire " In: Names, Places and People: an Onomastic Miscellany edited by Alexander R. Rumble & A.D. Mills,  Stamford: Paul Watkins, 1997.
Notes: 1871615860

________." Names in -kin in medieval Wales" in  Names, time and place : essays in memory of Richard McKinley, edited by Della Hooke and David Postles. Leopard’s Head Press, 2003, pp 117-128

Palmer, Eileen. "What’s in a Welsh name : how families in the Principality got their surnames ." Country Quest (September 1998): 22.

Petley-Jones, D. "The change From patronymics to surnames in rural Montgomeryshire." Genealogists Magazine 26, no. 12(2000): 473-74.

Powell, Alan A. "Monmouthshire surnames, 1754-1812." Gwent Family History Society Journal, no. 26 (1990): 6.

Powell, Anthony. "The distribution of Welsh surnames." Genealogists’ Magazine 19(1977): 61.
Abstract: Lawson1: "Comment on Leeson"

Raglan, Lord. "Welsh surnames." Man , no. 61(1961): 42.
Abstract: Lawson1: "A reply to Watkin (1960), comments that names such as Jones, Richards, Roberts are borne by more people of English rather then Welsh descent. 1 ref."

Rowlands, John and Sheila   Surnames of Wales for family historians and others. Birmingham: Federation of Family History Societies, 1996.

______   ‘The distribution of surnames in Wales’   Nomina  29 (2006), 97-113
Abstract: The authors have built an Access database of all the names recorded by marriages in Wales, 1813-1837. The output is plotted to the Hundred boundaries. They find that the mix of surnames is so identifiable to a region (even with common names) that they have a high degree of success in predicting the hundred of origin

______   ‘The transition from patronymic names to settled surnames in Wales’  Nomina 28 (2005) 55-68

Thomas, David. "Early Welsh settlement in the Usa : the surname evidence." Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion , no. 29(1987): 53-63.

________. "The Welsh connection." Geographical Magazine [London] , no. 50(1978): 489.
Abstract: Lawson2: "Explanation of why Welsh surnames are so distinctive"

________. "Welsh emigration to the United States : a note on surname evidence." Cambria , no. 6(1979): 1-9.
Abstract: Lawson2: "Expansion of 1978 article"

Thomas, Peter Wynn. "The distribution of Welsh surnames – I ." Cardiff Working Papers in Welsh Linguistics , no. 4 (1985): 135-47.

________. "The geographical distribution of Welsh surnames – II." Cardiff Working Papers in Welsh Linguistics , no. 5 (1987): 129-49.

________. "A quantative analysis of the geographical distribution of ap surnames in Wales." Onoma , no. 29(1987): 26-38.
Abstract: Lawson2: "evaluation of Welsh surnames…using cluster analysis and maps to demonstrate regional differences."

Watkin, I. Morgan. "A Viking settlement in Little England beyond Wales : ABO blood group evidence." Man , no. 60(1960): 148-53.
Abstract: Lawson1: "Along with other data on the area, lists 40 surnames which are held to be characterically Welsh. These names include: Bevan, Bowen, Richards and Williams. 27 refs."

________. "Welsh surnames." Man , no. 61(1961): 88-89.
Abstract: Lawson1: "This is a reply attacking Lord Raglan’s comments above (1961) that the names Richards, Roberts, Walters and Williams are borne by more people of English rather than Welsh origin. 9 refs."

Williams, D. Elwyn. "A short inquiry into the surnames in Glamorgan from the thirteenth to the eighteenth centuries." Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion , no. 2(1961): 45-87.
Abstract: Lawson2: "Scholarly examination into many aspects of Welsh surnames."

________. "A survey of surnames in the county of Glamorgan from the thirteenth century to the eighteenth century." University of London, 1954.

THIS IS A DEFAULT WIDGET WHICH SHOULD NOT DISPLAY. DO NOT DELETE THIS.

Modern British Surnames

ww1

  • Modern British Surnames
    • About the research
    • Distribution
    • Variance
    • Statistics
    • Bibliography
      • By location
        • Africa
        • America
        • Asia
        • Europe
          • Albania
          • Andorra
          • Armenia*
          • Austria
          • Azerbaijan*
          • Belarus
          • Belgium
          • Bulgaria
          • Croatia
          • Czech Republic
          • Denmark
          • Estonia
          • Finland
          • France
          • Georgia*
          • Germany
          • Greece
          • Hungary
          • Iceland
          • Ireland
          • Italy
          • Kazakhstan*
          • Latvia
          • Lithuania
          • Luxembourg
          • Macedonia
          • Malta
          • Montenegro
          • Netherlands
          • Norway
          • Poland
          • Portugal
          • Romania
          • Russia
          • Serbia
          • Slovakia
          • Slovenia
          • Spain
          • Sweden
          • Switzerland
          • Turkey*
          • Ukraine
          • United Kingdom
            • Channel Isles
            • Isle of Man
            • England
            • English Counties
            • Scotland
            • Wales
        • Oceania
        • Transnational
      • By topic
      • Given names
      • Societies
      • Periodicals
      • Websites
      • Author Index
    • Teaching
    • Taxonomy

Other Guild Websites

You may find our other Guild websites of interest:

  • Members’ Websites Program
  • Surname Cloud
  • Guild Members’ records on FamilySearch
  • Guild Marriage Locator

Contact Us

Email: Guild General Contact
Postal address:
c/o Treasurer,
3 Windsor Gardens,
Herne Bay,
Kent, CT6 8FE. UK.
Call us free on:
UK: 0800 011 2182
US & Canada: 1-800-647-4100
Australia: 1800 305 184

Follow Us


  • Facebook

  • Twitter

  • YouTube

Guild of One-Name Studies Policies:    Privacy   CIO Membership and Registration Conditions   Sales   COVID-19 Impact

© 2013–2026 Guild of One-Name Studies CIO. Registered Charity in England and Wales, No. 1197944.