Welsh surnames

Fixed surnames were adopted in Wales from the 15th century onwards. Until then, the Welsh had a patronymic naming system. History In 1292, 48 per cent of Welsh names were patronymics and, in some parishes, over 70 per cent. Other names were derived from nicknames, a few non-hereditary personal names and, rarely, occupational names. Patronymic names changed from generation to generation, with a person's baptismal name being linked by ap, ab (son of) or ferch (daughter of) to the father's baptismal name. For example, Evan, son of Thomas, would be known as Evan (ap) Thomas; Evan's son, John, would be John (ab) Evan; and John's son Rees would be Rees (ap) John. Patronymics could be extended with names of grandfathers and earlier ancestors, to perhaps the seventh generation. Names such as Llewelyn ap Dafydd ab Ieuan ap Gruffudd ap Meredydd were not uncommon. Those extended patronymics were essentially a genealogical history of the male line. The Encyclopaedia of Wales surmises that the system may have been Welsh law, in which it was essential for people to know how people were descended from an ancestor. These laws were decaying by the later Middle Ages, and the patronymic system was gradually replaced by fixed surnames, although the use of patronymic names continued up until the early 19th century in some rural areas.