Welsh last names come from a surprisingly small pool, and there is a reason for that. For centuries Wales named a person by his father rather than by a family line, using ap or ab for son of and ferch for daughter of, so the second name changed with every generation.
That ended after the Laws in Wales Acts of 1535 and 1542, when families settled on fixed surnames, most often by adding an s to a father’s given name. The result is a country where a few names cover most of the population: in parish marriage registers from 1813 to 1837, 13.84 percent of people in Wales were called Jones (1).
Below are 100 Welsh surnames with meanings, pronunciations, notable bearers and current U.S. baby-name figures, because several of them now do more work as first names than as family ones.
Popularity at a Glance
The most popular names on this list in the United States, 1965 to 2025: James, Owen, Thomas, Maddox and Collins.
100 Popular Welsh Surnames
Unpack thousands of years of history with Welsh last names unlike any other you’ll find.
Avalon
Avalon means island of apples, which is a soft, green image for a family name. Most people meet it in the tale of King Arthur, where Avalon is the island the sword Excalibur was first made on. That story keeps the name closer to legend than to the parish register. Cornish and Welsh both claim it, which suits a name that has always belonged to an in-between place.
- Origin: Welsh, Cornish
- Meaning: Apple tree
- Pronunciation: AHV-aa-Laan
- Variations: Avallon
- Namesakes: Frankie Avalon, an American entertainer with 31 Billboard singles from 1958 to 1962. Mickey Avalon (born Yeshe Perl), an American rapper and member of the Los Angeles-based graffiti crew CBS.
- Popularity: Avalon ranked #1,459 as a first name for U.S. babies in 2025, per Social Security Administration data.
Baines
Baines traces to the Welsh ab Einws, son of Einws, and the trail runs back through Ennion to a word for an anvil. Somewhere along the way it picked up a second life as a nickname, used for a thin person as readily as for a blacksmith. That double duty is very Welsh: a name could describe your father, your trade, or your build. Today it lands short and blunt, with a faint ring of the forge.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Little anvil
- Pronunciation: BEYNZ
- Variations: Bains
- Namesakes: Leighton Baines, an English footballer and head coach at Everton. Nicholas Baines, the British Anglican Bishop of Leeds since 2014.
- Popularity: Baines falls below the five-birth line the U.S. Social Security Administration uses to publish a name, so federal baby-name data does not list it.
Beddoe
Beddoe sits between two possible parents, the Welsh Bettws or the Old English bed-hus, house of prayer. Either root leaves the name with a quiet, devotional feel, and its rarity only sharpens that.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Oratory
- Pronunciation: BEH-dow
- Variations: Bedoe
- Namesakes: Valerie Beddoe, an Australian diver and gold medalist at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. Dan Beddoe, a Welsh tenor and gold medalist at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
- Popularity: Too few U.S. babies are given Beddoe each year for it to clear the Social Security Administration’s five-birth reporting threshold, so it is absent from the federal data.
Bethel
Bethel comes from the Welsh ap Ithell, son of Ithel, tying it to the older personal name Ithel rather than to any English root. It has traveled well as a place name across the UK, where chapels and villages still carry it. The overlap with the biblical Bethel, house of God, gives the surname a devotional echo that has kept it in steady use far beyond Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: House of God
- Pronunciation: BEH-Thahl
- Variations: Betel
- Namesakes: Judith Bethel, a House of Commons of Canada member from 1993 to 1997. Alfred Bethel, an American founder of the Pepsi Bethel Authentic Jazz Dance Theater.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Bethel at #3,406 in 2025, against a best of #632 back in 1917.
Bevan
Bevan began as Ab-Evan, the son of Evan, and Evan is the Welsh answer to John. Drop the prefix, keep the B, and you have one of the tidiest examples of a Welsh patronymic hardening into a fixed family name. It reads well on a son or a daughter, and Aneurin Bevan gives it real standing in Welsh public life. For a family looking to nod at Welsh roots without reaching for Jones, it is an easy pick.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of John
- Pronunciation: BEHV-aen
- Variations: Bevin, Bevvan
- Namesakes: Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, the Welsh Minister of Health from 1945 to 1961. Timothy Bevan, a New Zealand-British co-founder of Working Title Films.
- Popularity: Bevan last appeared in U.S. baby-name data in 2024 at #9,103, and has not charted since.
Blevins
Blevins is the English form of the Welsh ap Bleddyn. Behind it stands blaidd, meaning wolf. Medieval Wales also used the word for a hero, so the name carries courage as much as it carries the animal. That mix of teeth and praise is a lot to pack into two syllables.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Wolf
- Pronunciation: BLEH-vihns
- Variations: Blevin, Blevyn
- Namesakes: Christopher Blevins, an American cyclist for UCI Mountain Bike Team Trinity Racing. Harry B. Blevins, an American politician in the Senate of Virginia from 2001 to 2013.
- Popularity: Blevins does not appear in U.S. Social Security Administration baby-name records, which only list a name once it reaches five births in a year.
Bowen
Bowen grew out of the Welsh ab Owain, son of Owen, with the prefix worn down to a single B. It is one of the friendlier Welsh surnames on the ear, which is why American parents have taken to it as a first name. Blethyn is the Welsh counterpart most often set beside it.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Owen
- Pronunciation: BOW-Wehn
- Variations: Bowene, Bowens
- Namesakes: William Bowen, an American children’s book writer of The Old Tobacco Shop. Frank Blevins, the Deputy Premier of South Australia from 1992 to 1993.
- Popularity: Bowen ranked #266 as a first name for U.S. babies in 2025, its strongest showing on record, per Social Security Administration data.
Bradley
Bradley started as an English place name meaning broad wood, and it was handed to people who lived near one. The Bradley in Hampshire, a broad meadow, is the settlement most often named as the source. Centuries of use on both sides of the Welsh border blurred the line between the English place and the Welsh family, and the name now belongs comfortably to both. It has been a first name for so long that many people never think of it as a surname at all.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Broad wood
- Pronunciation: BRAED-Liy
- Variations: Braddley
- Namesakes: Ryan Bradley, an American figure skater and the 2008 Skate Canada International silver medalist. Karen Bradley, the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland from 2018 to 2019.
- Popularity: Federal U.S. birth records list Bradley at #403 in 2025, and it has charted there since 1880.
Broderick
Broderick is the English reworking of the Welsh Prydderch, son of Rhydderch. It was often given to redheaded men. It also shares a root with Roderick. The stretch from Prydderch to Broderick shows how far a Welsh name could travel once English clerks got hold of it.
- Origin: English, Welsh
- Meaning: Reddish-brown
- Pronunciation: BRAHD-eh-Rayk
- Variations: Boderick, Broder
- Namesakes: Matthew Broderick, an American actor best known for Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Patrick Broderick, an Irish National Hunt jockey and winner of the Champion Hurdle races in 1977.
- Popularity: Broderick still charts for U.S. babies, at #2,573 in 2025, well off its #683 high in 1956.
Cadwaladr
Cadwaladr goes back to 7th-century Wales, where it began as the given name Cadgwaladr before it ever served as a surname. The best-known bearer is Cadwaladr ap Gruffudd, a 12th-century prince of Cardigan. It means battle-leader, and nothing about the sound softens that. This is a name for a family that wants the full, unanglicized version of its heritage, spelling lessons included.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Battle-leader
- Pronunciation: Caad-WAHL-ah-Der
- Variations: Cadwalader
- Namesakes: Huw Cadwaladr, a 17th-century Welsh poet who wrote an elegy on the death of Edward Morris. Llewellyn Cadwaladr, a Welsh tenor famous for performing Gilbert and Sullivan.
- Popularity: Cadwaladr falls below the five-birth line the U.S. Social Security Administration uses to publish a name, so federal baby-name data does not list it.
Cardiff
Cardiff rests on the medieval Welsh Caerdyf, built from caer, fort, and a second element tied to the River Taf. So the capital’s name is really a description of a stronghold beside the water. As a surname it stayed rare, which makes it feel more like a claim on a place than an inheritance from one.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Fort
- Pronunciation: CAAR-dif
- Variations: Cardiffe
- Namesakes: James Cardiff, a Canadian ice hockey player for the Philadelphia Blazers. Murray Cardiff, a House of Commons of Canada member from 1980 to 1993.
- Popularity: The U.S. data last recorded Cardiff in 2024 at #12,652, after a high of #9,131 in 2022.
Carew
Carew reaches back to the Latin carrus, chariot, though it also carries the reading dweller at the fort on the hill, and both Welsh and Cornish families used it. Two meanings that far apart usually mean two separate origins collapsed into one spelling, which is common with names this old.
- Origin: Welsh, Cornish
- Meaning: Chariot
- Pronunciation: Cah-REW
- Variations: Carewe
- Namesakes: Rodney Carew, a Panamanian baseball player for the Minnesota Twins. Dudley Carew, an English special correspondent for The Times in the 1930s.
- Popularity: Too few U.S. babies are given Carew each year for it to clear the Social Security Administration’s five-birth reporting threshold, so it is absent from the federal data.
Cecil
Cecil began as the Welsh surname Seissylt and was later reshaped by Latin, where one line leads to a word for sixth and another to Caecilius, blind. Neither reading has ever settled the matter. What did settle was the name’s association with English nobility, which gave it a formality it has never quite lost. It reads old-fashioned now, in the way names do about twenty years before they come back.
- Origin: English, Welsh
- Meaning: Sixth
- Pronunciation: SEE-Sihl
- Variations: Cecel, Cecile, Cecill
- Namesakes: Malcolm Cecil, a British jazz bassist and member of the Jazz Couriers. Chuck Cecil, an American football player for the Los Angeles Rams.
- Popularity: Cecil ranked #1,486 as a first name for U.S. babies in 2025, per Social Security Administration data.
Collins
Collins comes from Colin, itself a medieval turn on Nicholas, so the surname means little more than the family of Colin. A Celtic line runs alongside it through Ua Cuilein, which became O Coileain. Welsh, Irish and English records all hold it, and none of them can claim it outright.
- Origin: English, Welsh
- Meaning: Hazel grove
- Pronunciation: CAW-lihns
- Variations: Collin, Collen
- Namesakes: Philip Collins, an English musician and former singer of the rock band Genesis. Joan Collins, an English actress best known for the 1980s soap opera Dynasty.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Collins at #241 in 2025, against a best of #239 back in 2023.
Cox
Cox worked as a suffix marking the chieftain of a clan, which is a grander start than the name’s blunt sound suggests. In Wales, coch means red, and the name was given to a man from the red hills. Among Welsh surnames counted in the UK it ranked 69th, so it is far from rare there. The color reading is the one most families lean on.
- Origin: English, Welsh
- Meaning: Red
- Pronunciation: KAHKS
- Variations: Coxe
- Namesakes: Brian Cox, a Scottish actor appearing in Braveheart. Russell Cox, an Australian rugby league footballer with St. George.
- Popularity: Cox does not appear in U.S. Social Security Administration baby-name records, which only list a name once it reaches five births in a year.
Craddock
Craddock is the Anglo spelling of the Welsh Caradawc, beloved. It looks back to Caratacus, the ancient Welsh leader who took up a revolt against Rome. Few surnames carry a resistance story that old. The modern spelling hides all of it behind two flat English syllables.
- Origin: English, Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Caradoc
- Pronunciation: CRAH-duhk
- Variations: Cradocke, Cradok
- Namesakes: Matthew Cradock, the first governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company between 1628 and 1629. William Craddock, an American author of Be Not Content: A Subterranean Journal in 1970.
- Popularity: Craddock falls below the five-birth line the U.S. Social Security Administration uses to publish a name, so federal baby-name data does not list it.
Crother
Crother comes from the 12th-century Welsh crwth, a word that named both a crowd and the stringed instrument played to one. It became an English occupational surname for a musician. The instrument itself sat somewhere between a fiddle and a violin, which is a neat origin for a family name: your ancestor was the entertainment.
- Origin: English, Welsh
- Meaning: Crowd
- Pronunciation: CRUH-ther
- Variations: Crothers
- Namesakes: Scatman Crothers, an American actor and musician known for Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining (1980). Bill Crothers, a Canadian athlete and silver medalist at the 1964 Summer Olympics.
- Popularity: Too few U.S. babies are given Crother each year for it to clear the Social Security Administration’s five-birth reporting threshold, so it is absent from the federal data.
Daffey
Daffey belongs to the large family of Welsh surnames built on David, a name read as friend or darling. That makes it one of the most typically Welsh-inspired meanings on this list. It is soft and short, and the bearers who have made a public name for it, a pair of Australian sportswriters and footballers, are Welsh transplants rather than a Wales-based line.
- Origin: Welsh, Celtic
- Meaning: Darling
- Pronunciation: DAA-fiy
- Variations: Dafydd
- Namesakes: Mark Daffey, an Australian rules footballer for Hawthorn. Paul Daffey, an Australian sports journalist who wrote Local Rites: A Year in Grass Roots Football in Victoria and Beyond.
- Popularity: Daffey does not appear in U.S. Social Security Administration baby-name records, which only list a name once it reaches five births in a year.
Davies
Davies rests on David, and it also draws on Dyfed in south-western Wales, where the name took hold early. Adding an s to a father’s given name was the most common way a Welsh family ended up with a fixed surname, and Davies is that pattern at its plainest. In Welsh parish marriage registers recorded between 1813 and 1837, Davies was carried by 7.09 percent of the population, third behind Jones and Williams. Few surnames are so firmly tied to one country.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Davie
- Pronunciation: DEY-Viyz
- Variations: Davis
- Namesakes: Jeremy Davies, an American actor appearing in Saving Private Ryan (1998). Russell Davies, a Welsh screenwriter for the 2005 revival of Doctor Who.
- Popularity: Davies sits at #9,934 in the 2025 U.S. baby-name data, having peaked at #3,250 in 1946.
Dew
Dew is a Welsh nickname for a thickset person, which is where the meaning stout comes from. It also sits close to the North Welsh pronunciation of du, meaning black, so the name may describe hair as easily as build. One syllable, two readings, and no way to tell which one your ancestor earned.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Stout
- Pronunciation: DUW
- Namesakes: George Dew, a pirate who traveled with William Kidd. Sam Dew, an American singer-songwriter with the group Wale’s.
- Popularity: Dew has never cleared the five-birth floor the SSA needs before it will publish a name.
Dyfodwg
Dyfodwg is one of the oldest and least known Welsh family names. It takes after Tyfodwg, a 6th-century saint and the patron of the church at Llandyfodwg in Glynogwr. The meaning has not survived, which is honest enough for a name this old. What has survived is the sound, and it is unmistakably Welsh.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Unknown
- Pronunciation: DAEY-Fouwd
- Popularity: Dyfodwg has yet to cross the five-birth line that gets a name into the federal data.
Ellis
Ellis served as an ancestral name for the son of Ellis, and as a boy’s name it carries the sense of benevolent or kind. English readers often file it with the E surnames of England, but it is as Welsh as they come, and its softness is the reason it crossed over into first-name use so easily.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Kind
- Pronunciation: EHL-ihs
- Variations: Elis, Ellise
- Namesakes: Warren Ellis, an Australian musician and member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds. Boaz Ellis, an Israeli foil fencer, and a 5-time Israeli national champion.
- Popularity: Federal U.S. birth records list Ellis at #243 in 2025, and it has charted there since 1880.
Evans
Evans comes from the given name Evan, based on the Welsh Ifan. Ifan is the original Welsh equivalent of John, though it also carries the reading born of yew. The s ending marks it as one of the fixed surnames Welsh families settled on when patronymics gave way to inherited names. In the 1813 to 1837 marriage registers it stood fifth in Wales at 5.46 percent, which is a striking share for a single family name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Evan
- Pronunciation: EH-Vahnz
- Variations: Evan
- Namesakes: Dominic Evans, a British auto racing driver in the British GT Championship. Linda Evans, an American actress known for the soap opera Dynasty.
- Popularity: Evans still charts for U.S. babies, at #2,082 in 2025, well off its #653 high in 1916.
Eynon
Eynon is a name that quietly announces Welsh ancestry, having started as the son of Eignion. It reaches back to the Latin Annianus, though the meaning that stuck is anvil. That gives it the same metal-and-muscle sense as Baines, arrived at by a completely different road.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Anvil
- Pronunciation: EHY-nahn
- Variations: Einion
- Namesakes: John Eynon, a monk of the Order of Saint Benedict, beatified by Pope Leo XIII in 1895.
- Popularity: Eynon has never hit the five-birth mark the SSA requires to appear in its yearly count.
Fardd
Fardd is taken from the Welsh bardd, poet. It is so rare that it has surfaced only a handful of times since the 13th century. Bleddyn Fardd, a 13th-century court poet from Gwynedd, is the bearer most often cited, and Myrddin Fardd, the pen name of the Welsh writer John Jones, is the other well-known holder of the name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Poet
- Pronunciation: FAHRD
- Variations: Fard
- Namesakes: Bleddyn Fardd, a 13th-century Welsh-language court poet from Gwynedd. John Jones (pen name Myrddin Fardd), a Welsh writer of Golygawd o Ben Carreg yr Imbill, Gerllaw Pwllheli (1858).
- Popularity: Fardd stays off the national tables because the SSA won’t print a name until it clears five births in a year.
Floyd
Floyd derives from the Welsh Llwyd, a name given to a gray-haired man. English speakers who could not manage the Welsh ll turned it into an F. It also carries the sense of flood. For a long stretch it was more common on boys as a first name than it was as a surname.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Gray-haired
- Pronunciation: FLOYD
- Namesakes: Bubba Floyd, an American baseball player for the Detroit Tigers in 1944. Keith Floyd, a British celebrity chef of the cookbook Floyd’s Food.
- Popularity: Floyd ranked #2,237 as a first name for U.S. babies in 2025, per Social Security Administration data.
Foulkes
Foulkes has collected relatives across Europe, among them the French Foulques and the Italian Fulco, all circling the ideas of people and chieftain. It is part of the reason English has the word folk at all. A name that ordinary in meaning rarely looks this unusual on paper.
- Origin: Welsh, German
- Meaning: Folk
- Pronunciation: FAUWKS
- Variations: Foulke, Foulks
- Namesakes: S. H. Foulkes, a German-British psychiatrist and the founder of group analysis. Bill Foulkes, an English footballer for Manchester United.
- Popularity: The federal count skips Foulkes, since the SSA won’t list a name below five births a year.
Gaynor
Gaynor draws partly on the Gaelic Mag Fhionnbhairr, son of Fionnbharr, and it also appears as a girl’s name read as soft. Britain used it heavily in the 1960s and 1970s, and Gloria Gaynor has done more than anyone since to keep it in circulation.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: The son of Gwenivere
- Pronunciation: GAY-nohr
- Namesakes: Gloria Gaynor, an American singer known for the song “I Will Survive” (1978). Tommy Gaynor, an Irish soccer player for Limerick United.
- Popularity: Gaynor dropped out of the U.S. baby-name rankings after 1968, when it stood at #7,372.
Gethin
Gethin has two threads. One runs to the Irish gaithean, a straight branch, the other to the Old Welsh Grippiud, lord, and the name also stands as a version of the Welsh Gruffydd. Its listed meaning, dark-skinned, points to the same nickname habit that gave Wales Cox and Dew: describe the man, then keep the description for good.
- Origin: Welsh, Celtic
- Meaning: Dark-skinned
- Pronunciation: GEH-Thahn
- Variations: Gethan, Gethen
- Namesakes: Peter Gethin, a British racing driver and 1971 Italian Grand Prix winner. Martin Gethin, the British lightweight boxing champion from 2013 to 2014.
- Popularity: The SSA keeps Gethin off its public rolls until it sees five births in a single year.
Glyn
Glyn is the Welsh spelling of glen, a valley of water, and it works exactly as the Irish Glen does. The longer Welsh form Glendower is the same word wearing formal clothes. It is short and earthy. Two syllables and it is done.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Valley
- Pronunciation: GLIHN
- Variations: Glynn
- Namesakes: William Glyn, an American tennis finalist in the first U.S. National Championships held in 1881. Gwyneth Glyn, the Welsh Children’s Poet Laureate of 2006 to 2007.
- Popularity: Glyn last appeared in U.S. baby-name data in 2009 at #13,130, and has not charted since.
Gower
Gower may point to the Gower or Gwyr peninsula in West Glamorgan, or to a French place called Gouy. A third line runs to the Old German Godehar, good army, which is a very different story from a headland in South Wales. Names this contested usually mean several unrelated families arrived at the same spelling and nobody untangled them afterward.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: From Gower
- Pronunciation: GAUGH-er
- Variations: Gowyr
- Namesakes: Raymond Gower, a British member of Parliament from 1951 to 1989. Luke Gower, an Australian musician and a member of the rock band Cog.
- Popularity: No official count exists for Gower: it sits under the SSA’s five-birth publication line.
Griffiths
Griffiths is built from the Welsh griff, a strong grip, and iudd, lord. Together they make a name about as commanding as a two-part name gets. It grew out of Gruffydd, a 13th-century Celtic personal name most people now recognize as Griffith. The s ending follows the same pattern that turned Jones and Williams into fixed family names, marking the family of Gruffydd rather than one man.
- Origin: Welsh, Celtic
- Meaning: Strong chief
- Pronunciation: GRIH-Fihths
- Variations: Griffyth, Gryffyths
- Namesakes: Anne Griffiths, a British librarian and the personal archivist of Prince Philip. Terry Griffiths, a Welsh snooker player and the 1979 World Snooker Champion.
- Popularity: Griffiths remains uncounted nationally, short of the SSA’s five-birth reporting minimum.
Gwilym
Gwilym is the Welsh form of William, built from the Germanic wil, will or desire, and helm, helmet or protection. Gwilym Goncwerwr is the name English history books print as William the Conqueror. Keeping the Welsh spelling is a quiet way of refusing the translation.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Resolute protector
- Pronunciation: GWIHL-ihm
- Namesakes: Lisa Gwilym, a Welsh broadcaster for BBC Radio Cymru. Meinir Gwilym, a Welsh-language singer working with the show Wedi 7.
- Popularity: Gwilym’s one appearance in SSA data was 2005, at #12,064.
Hanford
Hanford may describe someone from Ravensford, or its parts may simply read as a high ford. A separate line ties it to Handforth, a Welsh and English name that later traveled to Jamaica. Ford names like this one mark the places people actually crossed, which is why so many of them survive as surnames.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: High ford
- Pronunciation: HHAEN-Ferd
- Variations: Hanforde, Hanfurd
- Namesakes: Dan Hanford, a Welsh footballer for Carlisle United. Henry Hanford, the first Euro-American settler of Lewistown, Ohio.
- Popularity: Hanford dropped out of the U.S. baby-name rankings after 1961, when it stood at #4,305.
Harris
Harris was given to the son of Harry, and Harry was the everyday medieval form of Henry. Ireland reached the same spelling from a different direction, through the Gaelic O’Earchadha. Two languages, one surname, and no way for a modern family to tell which line it belongs to without digging.
- Origin: Welsh, Celtic
- Meaning: Son of Harry
- Pronunciation: HHEY-Rihs
- Variations: Harriss
- Namesakes: Richard Harris, an Irish actor ranked 3rd on The Irish Times’s list of Ireland’s greatest film actors. Dick Harris, a Canadian member of Parliament from 1993 to 2015.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Harris at #1,300 in 2025, against a best of #383 back in 1915.
Havard
Havard is one of the geographical Welsh surnames, this one carrying the sense of from Haverfordwest. It sits beside Hereford as an unusual variant, and the listed meaning, goat ford, keeps it tied to a crossing rather than a town.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Goat ford
- Pronunciation: HHAE-Verd
- Variations: Havord
- Namesakes: Floyd Havard, a former Welsh boxer and British Super Featherweight Champion, from 1994 to 1996. Robert Havard, the British physician of J.R.R. Tolkien.
- Popularity: Havard last appeared in U.S. baby-name data in 1952 at #3,960, and has not charted since.
Hooley
Hooley marked a person from Howley and first appears in northern England rather than in Wales. The modern Irish sense is more fun, since a hooley is a party, and a surname that turned into a word for a good night out has earned its place here.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Of Howley
- Pronunciation: HUW-Liy
- Variations: Hooly
- Namesakes: E. Purnell Hooley, a Welsh inventor of tarmac in 1902. Terri Hooley, the Northern Irish founder of the Good Vibrations record label.
- Popularity: Hooley stays invisible in federal data, since the SSA won’t report a name under five births.
Hopkins
Hopkins means son of Hob, and Hob is a worn-down form of ab Popkyn, the son of Hopkin. Each step shortened the name a little more, which is how patronymics usually end. Anthony Hopkins has made it one of the most recognizably Welsh surnames in the world without anyone having to explain the etymology.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish
- Meaning: Son of Hob
- Pronunciation: HOHP-Kihnz
- Variations: Hopkin
- Namesakes: Anthony Hopkins, a Welsh actor and recipient of the Cecil B. DeMille Award in 2005. Lightnin’ Hopkins, an American musician, ranked 71st by Rolling Stone in the 100 greatest guitarists in 2010.
- Popularity: Hopkins hasn’t reached the five births a year the SSA requires before a name gets counted.
Howell
Howell means son of Hoelrom and takes its shape from the 10th-century Welsh king whose name it echoes. The closely related Hywel, from Higuel, carries the sense of prominent. Both spellings are still in use today, one Welsh and one anglicized.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Eminent
- Pronunciation: HHA-Wehl
- Variations: Howel, Howyll
- Namesakes: Delles Howell, an American football player for the New York Jets. Laura Howell, the first female British comic strip artist in the history of The Beano comic.
- Popularity: Howell sits at #6,947 in the 2025 U.S. baby-name data, having peaked at #665 in 1920.
Hughes
Hughes comes from the Welsh personal names Hu and Huw, both read as inspiration. The Celtic Hu also means fire, which gives the plain-looking surname an unexpected spark. It is the son of Hugh in the same way Jones is the son of John, formed by the same simple ending.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Hugh
- Pronunciation: HUWES
- Variations: Hugh
- Namesakes: Ted Hughes, an English poet named Poet Laureate in 1984. Marjorie Hughes, an American singer with the Paul Martin band.
- Popularity: Federal U.S. birth records list Hughes at #4,309 in 2025, and it has charted there since 1896.
Irving
Irving relates to the River Irvine in Dumfriesshire, and a second reading points to erinviene, from the west, said of Irishmen who settled on the west coast of Scotland. Its meaning, green water, keeps it in the same watery company as Irwen.
- Origin: Welsh, Scottish
- Meaning: Green water
- Pronunciation: EHR-Vihng
- Variations: Irvine, Ervin
- Namesakes: Amy Irving, an American actress appearing in The Fury (1978). T. B. Irving, a Canadian-American author of the first American-English translation of the Qur’an.
- Popularity: Irving still charts for U.S. babies, at #1,783 in 2025, well off its #100 high in 1914.
Irwen
Irwen means green and fresh, and it also works as a boy’s name by way of Everwyn, from Eoforwine, a wild friend. The white river reading is the one that suits its sound best. It is scarce enough that most people meet it as a spelling variant of Erwin rather than in its own right.
- Origin: Welsh, Scottish
- Meaning: White river
- Pronunciation: IHR-Wehn
- Variations: Erwin
- Popularity: So few babies get the name Irwen that the SSA’s public tables leave it out.
James
James descends from the Hebrew Jacob, supplanter. It arrived in England with the Normans before Wales took it up as a family name. Welsh families adopted it widely once fixed surnames took hold, and it now ranks #6 as a U.S. first name.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of James
- Pronunciation: JHEYMZ
- Variations: Jaemes
- Namesakes: Edison James, the prime minister of Dominica from 1995 to 2000. Polly James, a Welsh radio presenter for Capital South Wales.
- Popularity: James ranked #6 as a first name for U.S. babies in 2025, per Social Security Administration data.
Jenkins
Jenkins and Jenkin both mean little John, built on Jen, the Welsh pet form of John. The diminutive was usually aimed at a son, a grandson or a younger relative who shared the family name. That makes Jenkins a patronymic twice over: the son of the little John.
- Origin: Welsh, Cornish
- Meaning: Son of John
- Pronunciation: JHEHN-Kihns
- Variations: Jenkin
- Namesakes: Richard Jenkins, an American actor known for the HBO series Six Feet Under (2001 to 2005). Harry Jenkins, the Australian Speaker of the House of Representatives from 2008 to 2011.
- Popularity: The U.S. data last recorded Jenkins in 2021 at #12,981, after a high of #2,378 in 1913.
Jenner
Jenner comes from the Middle English enginour, an occupational name for someone who designed military machines, meaning in practice digging trenches and working catapults, a long way from the modern sound of the name. Occupational surnames like this one preserve jobs that stopped existing centuries ago.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Engineer
- Pronunciation: JHEHN-er
- Namesakes: Gustav Jenner, a German composer and the only formal pupil of Johannes Brahms. Kylie Jenner, an American reality series actress on Keeping Up with the Kardashians from 2007 to 2021.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Jenner at #7,389 in 2025, against a best of #2,487 back in 2011.
Jeston
Jeston is the Welsh answer to the Latin Justus, so it reads as just or righteous. A second sense, clever thinker, sits alongside it. Both are unusually flattering for a name almost nobody has heard of.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Just
- Pronunciation: JHUS-Tihn
- Variations: Justin
- Popularity: Jeston dropped out of the U.S. baby-name rankings after 2019, when it stood at #10,232.
Jones
Jones stands at the head of any list of Welsh family names, and the reason is arithmetic rather than sentiment. When Welsh families gave up patronymics for fixed surnames, everyone whose father was called John became a Jones. In parish marriage registers from 1813 to 1837 it was carried by 13.84 percent of the recorded population of Wales, almost five points clear of Williams behind it. Keeping up with the Joneses is one of the few phrases in English built on a Welsh surname.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of John
- Pronunciation: JHOWNZ
- Variations: Jonze
- Namesakes: Catherine Zeta-Jones, a Welsh actress and British Academy Film Award winner. Michael Jones, an English musician and member of the band Foreigner.
- Popularity: Jones sits at #811 in the 2025 U.S. baby-name data, having peaked at #766 in 1916.
Kendrick
Kendrick has traveled a long way from the Welsh Cynwrig, the greatest champion. The original joined cyne, great, to riks, ruler. The compliment was doubled from the start. Modern ears hear it as an American first name, which says more about the last twenty years than about the name.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Kenwrec
- Pronunciation: KEHN-Drihk
- Variations: Kendric, Kendricks, Kendrik
- Namesakes: Anna Kendrick, an American actress appearing in the Pitch Perfect film series. Fiona Kendrick, a British chief executive of Nestlé UK & Ireland.
- Popularity: Federal U.S. birth records list Kendrick at #535 in 2025, and it has charted there since 1912.
Kimball
Kimball started with the Welsh Kemball, a war chief, and a Celtic reading takes it further as the leader of the warriors. Both point the same direction. For a name that soft-sounding, the meaning is unexpectedly fierce.
- Origin: Welsh, Surname
- Meaning: War chief
- Pronunciation: KIHM-Bahl
- Variations: Kimbal, Kimbell, Kimble
- Namesakes: Ward Kimball, an American animator at Disney known as one of Disney’s Nine Old Men. Bobby Kimball, an American singer and frontman of the band Toto.
- Popularity: Kimball peaked at #911 in 1954; in 2025 it was down at #11,405, but it’s still charting.
Lewis
Lewis has more possible parents than most, from Lowis to Lodovicus, and it also works as a short form of the Welsh Llewelyn. The Gaelic Mac Lughaidh, son of Lughaidh, adds another line. Its listed meaning, famed battle, comes through the Germanic side of that tangle. Few Welsh surnames have stayed this popular while remaining this hard to pin down.
- Origin: Welsh, Gaelic
- Meaning: Famed battle
- Pronunciation: LUW-ihs
- Variations: Louis
- Namesakes: C.S. Lewis, a British writer known for The Chronicles of Narnia. Jerry Lewis, an American comedian known as “The King of Comedy.”
- Popularity: Lewis ranked #433 as a first name for U.S. babies in 2025, per Social Security Administration data.
Leyshon
Leyshon means the son of Lewis, which puts it in the same family as Lewis itself. Lewis is the shorter anglicized form of Llewellyn. Leyshon itself sometimes surfaces as Lleision, the older Welsh spelling. Three versions of one name, and Wales kept all of them.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Lewis
- Pronunciation: Laey-SHAUN
- Namesakes: Nell Leyshon, a British writer whose 2004 novel Black Dirt was long-listed for the Orange Prize. William Leyshon, an Australian rugby league footballer for North Sydney.
- Popularity: Five U.S. births a year is the SSA’s cutoff, and Leyshon has never reached it.
Llewellyn
Llewellyn may be the most recognizable Welsh name of them all. Some trace it to the Celtic Lugubelinos, while the popular reading ties it to llew, lion. Two princes of North Wales carried it, which is why it still sounds like a name with a crown somewhere in its past. The double l at the front is the part most English speakers never quite manage.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Like a lion
- Pronunciation: HLuw-EH-lihn
- Variations: Llewelyn
- Namesakes: Richard Llewellyn, an English-Welsh novelist known for the 1939 book How Green Was My Valley. William Llewellyn, a Welsh rugby union player for London Welsh.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Llewellyn at #5,749 in 2025, against a best of #729 back in 1916.
Machen
Machen is a Welsh town in Caerphilly, and the surname simply says a family came from there. It is occasionally filed as a variant of Mason, though the geographical reading is the stronger one. Place-name surnames are common in North Wales, where families often took the land rather than the father.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From Machen
- Pronunciation: MAK-ehn
- Variations: Machin, Machon
- Namesakes: Willis Benson Machen, a Democratic U.S. Senator from Kentucky from 1872 to 1873. Arthur Machen, a Welsh supernatural author of The Great God Pan.
- Popularity: The SSA’s five-birth threshold has kept Machen out of the published data entirely.
Maddox
Maddox belongs to the son of Madoc, a name read as fortunate, and the Welsh root mad also produced Madog and Maddock, so the three are cousins rather than rivals. American parents rediscovered it as a first name in the last thirty years, which is unusual for a surname this old.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Madoc
- Pronunciation: MAA-docks
- Variations: Maddix, Madox
- Namesakes: Bronwen Maddox, the director and CEO of the think tank Chatham House since 2022. Douglas Maddox, an American film producer inducted into the Producers Guild of America in 2007.
- Popularity: Maddox sits at #210 in the 2025 U.S. baby-name data, having peaked at #136 in 2017.
March
March comes from the Old English marche, and the Marches are the borderland between England and Wales. A second line runs to Martius, the first month of the original Roman calendar. Either way the name marks an edge: a boundary in one reading, the turn of the year in the other.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Boundary
- Pronunciation: MAHRCH
- Namesakes: Babette March, the first Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue cover model in 1964. Nora Roberts (pseudonym Jill March), the first American author inducted into the Romance Writers of America Hall of Fame.
- Popularity: The most recent SSA data to record March was 2024, when it stood at #16,808; it hasn’t charted in a year since.
Martyn
Martyn is the spelling Welsh and Ukrainian families kept while everyone else settled on Martin. It began with the Latin Martinus, which points back to Mars, the Roman god of war and fertility. Swapping one vowel is a small thing. It has kept the name looking distinctly un-English for centuries.
- Origin: Welsh, Ukrainian
- Meaning: Warrior of Mars
- Pronunciation: Maar-TIYN
- Variations: Martin
- Namesakes: David Forbes Martyn, a Scottish-Australian physicist who helped develop defense radar for Australia during World War II. Andrew Martyn, an Irish priest who perished during the Irish Famine in 1847.
- Popularity: Martyn’s high point came in 1956 at #1,995; by the time the SSA last recorded it, in 2024, it had slipped to #13,521.
Matthews
Matthews comes from Matthew, gift of Jehovah, with the usual Welsh s on the end. As a surname it surfaced first in Glywysing, the South Wales kingdom, where it served as a noble family name. That start explains why it has always carried a little more weight than its plainness suggests.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Matthew
- Pronunciation: MAET-Hyuwz
- Variations: Matthew
- Namesakes: Dave Matthews, an American musician and frontman for the Dave Matthews Band. Brenda Matthews, a New Zealand track and field sprinter who competed at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
- Popularity: Federal U.S. birth records list Matthews at #8,024 in 2025, and it has charted there since 1882.
Medwin
Medwin reads as a strong friend in German, with the fuller sense of a powerful and faithful one, and it is rare now even though it keeps a very Welsh ring, helped by the Medwyn spelling. Names that sound like they belong to a place they did not come from are more common on this list than you would think.
- Origin: Welsh, German
- Meaning: Son of Medwin
- Pronunciation: MEHD-Wihn
- Variations: Medwyn, Medwynne
- Namesakes: Cameron Medwin, a Canadian footballer for Portugal AC. Michael Hugh Medwin, an English actor known for the BBC series Shoestring.
- Popularity: Medwin left the SSA rankings after 2012, its last recorded standing #13,538.
Meredith
Meredith comes from the Welsh Meredydd or Maredudd, and further back from Morgetiud, which has been read as everything from great lord to grace. It is one of the few names here that moved from surname to girls’ first name without losing its Welsh identity.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Great ruler
- Pronunciation: MEHR-ah-Dihth
- Variations: Meredeth, Meredyth
- Namesakes: William M. Meredith, the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury from 1849 to 1850. Burgess Meredith, an American actor known for The Twilight Zone.
- Popularity: Meredith still charts for U.S. babies, at #469 in 2025, well off its #140 high in 1980.
Merrick
Merrick rests on the Welsh given name Meuric, an alternative to Maurice, and it also works as a boy’s name meaning ruler. The listed sense, dark, comes from the Maurice side of the family. It carries both a place in Wales’ surname stock and a life as a modern first name. Short and sharp, it is easy to spell either way.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Dark
- Pronunciation: MEH-Rihk
- Variations: Merick, Merrik, Merryck
- Namesakes: Elizabeth Merrick, an American author and founder of the Grace Reading Series. Will Merrick, an English actor appearing on the series Skins.
- Popularity: SSA data puts Merrick at #1,183 among U.S. baby names in 2025.
Merwyn
Merwyn is the Welsh turn on Marvin, with Celtic roots among the Britons of Wales. In Arthurian stories the related Mervin points toward Merlin, the Celtic druid, which is where the name gets its air of mystery. Its stated meaning, sea friend, suits a name that keeps drifting between legend and record.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Sea friend
- Pronunciation: MEHR-Wihn
- Variations: Mervyn, Merwin
- Namesakes: Audley Mervyn, an Irish Speaker of the Irish House of Commons from 1661 to 1666. William Mervyn, an English actor known for the film All Gas and Gaiters.
- Popularity: Merwyn hasn’t charted since 1971, the last year the SSA logged it, at #4,740.
Moore
Moore was given to someone who lived at the moor or the heath, or it stands as an English spelling of the Welsh Mawr, great or large, a completely different compliment. Whether an ancestor was praised for size or simply lived on open ground depends on which line a family follows.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Stately
- Pronunciation: MORE
- Variations: Moor
- Namesakes: Roger Moore, an English actor who portrayed James Bond between 1973 and 1985. Michael Moore, an American filmmaker and winner of the 2002 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.
- Popularity: Moore peaked at #2,423 in 1913 and was last seen in the SSA data in 1949, at #4,057.
Morgan
Morgan grows out of the Old Welsh personal name Morcant and is usually traced to Morgan ap Llewelyn in the 14th century. That line shaped both the Morgan and Morgund surnames that followed. Its meaning, great kingdom, has helped it survive as a first name for girls and boys alike, and it remains one of the least fussy Welsh names to carry outside Wales.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Great kingdom
- Pronunciation: MOWR-Gahn
- Variations: Morghan, Morrgan
- Namesakes: Rhodri Morgan, the First Minister of Wales from 2000 to 2009. Juwan Morgan, an American basketball player for the Ontario Clippers.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Morgan at #312 in 2025, against a best of #22 back in 1997.
Morien
Morien reads as sea-born, or born in the sea, and it is also the title of a 13th-century Arthurian romance. The best trail leads to the Mari-Morgans, the Welsh water spirits said to drown men, a startling piece of folklore for a name this soft.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Sea-born
- Pronunciation: MOH-riy-Ehn
- Popularity: Morien sits beneath the reporting floor the SSA sets at five births a year.
Naegle
Naegle may begin with the Norman de Angulo, and it also serves as an English form of the Gaelic Mac an Oglaigh, the son of the soldier. A German line runs alongside both, where it was an occupational name for a carpenter and the meaning nail comes in. Three origins, one spelling, and a family history that could go in any of three directions.
- Origin: Welsh, German
- Meaning: Nail
- Pronunciation: NEAY-Gahl
- Variations: Nagle, Nagel
- Namesakes: Walter Naegle, an American artist and board member emeritus at the Bayard Rustin Center for Social Justice. Sue Naegle, an American president of HBO Entertainment from 2008 until 2013.
- Popularity: Naegle is one of the names too scarce for the SSA’s five-birth publication rule.
Nanney
Nanney points to Nannau in Wales, sometimes written Nannaw, or to the Nannau family, descendants of the princes of Powys who kept a country estate at Dolgellau. Either way it is a name about land and the people who held it.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of Nannau
- Pronunciation: NAE-Niy
- Variations: Nanny
- Namesakes: Kevin Nanney, an American Super Smash Bros. Melee player and a two-time Apex Tournament champion. Wendy Nanney, an American member of the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2008 to 2016.
- Popularity: Nanney is too rare for the SSA’s yearly tables, which start counting only at five births.
Nash
Nash was given to someone who lived near an ash tree, and the odd spelling comes from the Middle English atten, meaning at the ash. Say atten ash quickly and the n moves across, which is exactly what happened. There are places called Nash in both England and Wales, so the tree may be literal or a landmark.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: By the ash tree
- Pronunciation: NAESH
- Variations: Nashe
- Namesakes: Clarence Nash, an American voice actor best known for voicing Donald Duck. John Nash, an American mathematician awarded the 1994 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics.
- Popularity: Nash sits at #255 in the 2025 U.S. baby-name data, having peaked at #233 in 2021.
Owen
Owen carries the sense of well-born or born of youth, and it is the English spelling of the Welsh Owain. Eugene is its Greek counterpart and Eoghan the Gaelic one, all three circling the same idea. It is the rare Welsh name that needs no explanation abroad. It also wears the surname and the first name equally well.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Young warrior
- Pronunciation: OW-Ahn
- Variations: Owens
- Namesakes: Bradley Owen, the Lieutenant Governor of Washington from 1997 to 2017. Chris Owen, an American actor appearing in the American Pie film franchise.
- Popularity: Owen has charted since 1880 and stood at #31 in the SSA’s 2025 count.
Parry
Parry comes from the Welsh ap-Harry, the descendant of Harry. It is the same construction that produced Price and Pritchard, with the p carried over from the old prefix. The name settled in northwestern England too, in Cheshire and Lancashire, where Welsh families moved for work.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Harry
- Pronunciation: PAE-Riy
- Namesakes: Bruce Parry, an English documentarian, for the BBC series Tribe. Mark Parry, a Welsh footballer for Chester City.
- Popularity: 1999 is the last year Parry appeared in the rankings, at #9,567, before it dropped off.
Pembroke
Pembroke refers to Penfro in South Wales and has been in use since the 17th century, and the reading edge of the land fits a county that runs out into the sea on three sides. It now works as a modern unisex given name too, a second life most place-name surnames never get.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish
- Meaning: Bluff, headland
- Pronunciation: PEHM-Browk
- Variations: Pembrok
- Popularity: Pembroke’s one appearance in SSA data goes back to 1887, at #1,031, with nothing recorded since.
Philips
Philips marked a descendant of Philip, from the Greek Philippos, a friend of horses. The original joined philein, meaning to love, with hippos, horse. Wales adopted it enthusiastically once fixed surnames arrived, and both Philips and the double-l Phillips survived.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Philip
- Pronunciation: Fih-LAHPS
- Variations: Phillips
- Namesakes: Emo Philips (born Philip Soltanec), an American stand-up comedian and winner of the 1985 New Music Award for best comedy album. Gina Philips, an American actress known for Jeepers Creepers (2001).
- Popularity: Philips reached #3,441 in 1938 and was last logged by the SSA in 2018, down at #13,613.
Powell
Powell is what happened to the Welsh Hywel when English clerks got to it. Hywel became Howell, and ap Hywel collapsed into Powell. Historians point to it as one of the clearest surviving examples of the old ap prefix fusing into a fixed surname. In 2010 it ranked 101st among all surnames in America.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Howell
- Pronunciation: PAUW-ehl
- Variations: Powel
- Namesakes: Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1945 to 1971. Colin Powell, the 65th U.S. Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005.
- Popularity: Powell still charts for U.S. babies, at #8,751 in 2025, well off its #1,069 high in 1913.
Price
Price comes from the Welsh ap Rhys, the son of Rice, Rees or Rhys, with the same p that Powell and Parry kept. A second reading gives it the sense of enthusiasm. Short, tidy and easy to spell, it has done better as a modern baby name than most surnames its age.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Descendent of Rhys
- Pronunciation: PRYHS
- Variations: Pryce
- Namesakes: Vincent Price, an American actor with two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Sarah Price, an English swimmer and gold medalist at the 2002 Commonwealth Games.
- Popularity: In 2025 SSA figures, Price stood at #2,347 as a first name.
Priddy
Priddy is built on the Welsh ap Ridel, the son of Ridel, and is usually read as the son of a splendid lord. It may also be inspired by Priddy, one of the knights of the Arthurian Round Table. It sounds far grander than most three-syllable surnames manage.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of the lord
- Pronunciation: PRIHD-iy
- Variations: Preddy
- Namesakes: Penny Priddy, a Canadian politician and the only woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons. James Priddy, an English first-class cricket player for Somerset.
- Popularity: No year has brought Priddy five U.S. births, the bar the SSA sets for publication.
Pritchard
Pritchard is the English spelling of the Welsh ap Rhisiart, so it means son of Richard. Prichard with one r is the same name in older dress. Along with Price, Parry and Powell, it belongs to the small group of Welsh surnames that still wear their patronymic prefix in plain sight.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Richard
- Pronunciation: PRIH-Cherd
- Variations: Prichard
- Namesakes: Wendy Pritchard, an Australian field hockey manager for the Australian Women’s Hockey team. Deborah Pritchard, an English composer performing with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales.
- Popularity: The SSA’s yearly count has no line for Pritchard, which hasn’t cleared five births.
Prosser
Prosser developed from the Welsh ap Rhosier, the son of Roger, and Roger is itself an Old French name meaning famous spear. The surname carries a Norman import inside a Welsh frame, layering typical of names formed after the Normans reached Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Rosser
- Pronunciation: PRAW-ser
- Namesakes: Ray Prosser, a Welsh international rugby union player for Pontypool. Geoffrey Prosser, an Australian member of the House of Representatives from 1987 to 2007.
- Popularity: Fewer than five U.S. babies a year have been named Prosser, so it never makes the SSA’s public list.
Prothero
Prothero comes from the Welsh ap-Rhydderc, the son of Roderick. Translated flat it would be Roderickson, which nobody would choose. Prothero, with the Protheroe spelling beside it, is the version that survived, and it sounds far better than the literal one.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Rhydderch
- Pronunciation: PRAUW-theh-Row
- Variations: Protheroe
- Namesakes: Mark Prothero, an American attorney and the defense co-counsel for the Green River Killer from 2001 to 2003. George Prothero, an English historian and president of the Royal Historical Society from 1901 to 1905.
- Popularity: The SSA has never had enough Protheros to publish, needing five births before a name counts.
Pugh
Pugh is another way of saying son of Hugh, worn down from the Welsh ap-Hugh to a single syllable. Hew is the older spelling that shows the join. In 2010 it ranked 879th among surnames in the U.S., which is respectable for a name this compressed. Florence Pugh has since made it familiar to people who could not have placed it on a map.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of Hugh
- Pronunciation: PEW
- Variations: Peugh, Peughe, Pew, Pue
- Namesakes: Florence Pugh, an English actress best known for the horror film Midsommar. Madelyn Pugh, an American TV writer known for the I Love Lucy series.
- Popularity: Pugh never shows up in Social Security’s data, held back by the five-birth minimum.
Rheon
Rheon is one of several Welsh surnames with Irish connections. It joins the Celtic ri, king, to a diminutive ending, so it reads as a little king. The Welsh rhi carries the related sense of leader. Iwan Rheon is the reason most people outside Wales have ever seen it written down.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish
- Meaning: Little king
- Pronunciation: HRIY-Ahn
- Namesakes: Iwan Rheon, a Welsh actor appearing in the HBO series Game of Thrones.
- Popularity: Rheon hasn’t charted since 2020, its final SSA standing #13,630.
Rhys
Rhys was carried by more than a few Welsh royals and also stands for fire in Celtic. As a first name it appears as Ris, with the sense of ardor. Reece, Rees and Reese are all the same name after English spelling had its way with it. The original spelling is the one that still looks unmistakably Welsh on a page.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Ardent
- Pronunciation: HRIYS
- Variations: Reece, Rees, Reese
- Namesakes: Phillip Rhys, an English actor appearing in the film The Space Between. Jean Rhys (born Ella Rees Williams), an English writer known for the novel Wide Sargasso Sea (1966).
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Rhys at #412 in 2025, against a best of #353 back in 2023.
Roberts
Roberts grew out of Robert, bright renown, with the standard Welsh s marking the family rather than the man. It concentrated in North Wales before spreading across the UK. The same s-pattern built Jones and Williams from their own given names. Roberts is plain to say and flattering in what it means.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Robert
- Pronunciation: RAHB-ehrts
- Variations: Robberts
- Namesakes: Julia Roberts, an American actress whose films have grossed over $3.9 billion worldwide. Will Roberts, the Welsh winner of the 1962 Byng-Stamper Prize for landscape painting.
- Popularity: 1999 was the last year Roberts turned up in SSA data, ranked #9,647, and it hasn’t returned.
Rowlands
Rowlands takes after Roland, built from the Germanic hrod, renown, and land, territory. As a surname it means the son of Roland, and it did well through the Middle Ages when the Roland stories were everywhere. The singular Rowland is the same name without the family ending.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Renowned land
- Pronunciation: ROUW-lands
- Variations: Rowland
- Namesakes: Gena Rowlands, an American actress and a four-time Emmy winner. Graham Rowlands, an Australian poet awarded the Barbara Hanrahan Fellowship in 2002.
- Popularity: Rowlands falls short of the five births the SSA needs before a name appears in its records.
Sayer
Sayer rests on the Welsh saer, a variant of Sawyer, and it named a carpenter, telling you what an ancestor did all day more plainly than most family names do.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Carpenter
- Pronunciation: SEY-er
- Variations: Sayers
- Namesakes: George Sayer, an English politician in the House of Commons from 1695 to 1705. Jess Sayer, a New Zealand playwright who won the 2015 Bruce Mason Playwriting Award.
- Popularity: Sayer sits at #13,562 in the 2025 U.S. baby-name data, having peaked at #3,873 in 2017.
Sealy
Sealy comes from the medieval Welsh given names Selyf and Seleu, both forms of Solomon that appear in the Welsh Bible from the late 16th century. The meaning attached to it, blessed, fits that biblical line. Cornwall claims a share of it too, as it does with several names here.
- Origin: Welsh, Cornish
- Meaning: Blessed
- Pronunciation: SEE-Liy
- Variations: Sealey, Seeley
- Namesakes: Michael Sealy, an American volleyball coach for the UCLA Women’s Volleyball Team. Alison Sealy-Smith, a Canadian-Barbadian actress appearing in multiple Marvel animated TV series.
- Popularity: Sealy is absent from the national data because the SSA holds back any name under five births a year.
Tegan
Tegan links to the first name Tadhgan, built on tadhg, a poet and philosopher. It also works as a girl’s name from the Welsh teg, fair. From there it carries the readings loved one, favorite and even toy. Few names on this list stretch across that much ground, and it manages all of it in two syllables.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish
- Meaning: Poet
- Pronunciation: TIYG-aen
- Variations: Teagan, Teegan
- Popularity: Federal U.S. birth records list Tegan at #2,297 in 2025, and it has charted there since 1957.
Thomas
Thomas is a surname almost everywhere, from England and southern India to Wales, Scotland, Germany and Denmark, which makes its Welsh credentials easy to overlook. In Wales they are strong: the 1813 to 1837 marriage registers put Thomas fourth at 5.70 percent of the recorded population. Its meaning, twin, comes straight from the Aramaic through the apostle. In 2019 it ranked 14th among U.S. surnames and 9th among English ones.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Twin
- Pronunciation: TAAM-ahs
- Variations: Tomas
- Namesakes: Dylan Thomas, a Welsh poet best known for A Child’s Christmas in Wales. Henry Thomas, an American actor known for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).
- Popularity: Thomas still charts for U.S. babies, at #34 in 2025, well off its #8 high in 1936.
Trahern
Trahern began as a personal name for someone living in the Trehane settlement in Cornwall, and it reads as strength of iron. Geoffrey of Monmouth gave the name to a fictional King of the Britons in his Historia Regum Britanniae. Traherne and Treherne are the fuller spellings, and all three look better written than they sound spoken.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Strength of iron
- Pronunciation: TRAH-Hern
- Variations: Traherne, Treherne
- Namesakes: Thomas Trahern, a 16th-century English officer of arms murdered during the Pilgrimage of Grace rebellion in 1542.
- Popularity: Trahern’s best year was 1969, at #4,983; the SSA hasn’t recorded it since 1986, when it stood at #6,666.
Tudor
Tudor started as the Welsh given name Tudur, from the Celtic Toutorix, joining the words for people and king, and the House of Tudor held the English throne from 1485 to 1603, a rare case of a Welsh family name attaching itself to an entire dynasty. Tudur and Tewdyr are the Welsh spellings that never crossed over.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: People’s King
- Pronunciation: TUW-Daoer
- Variations: Tudur, Tewdyr
- Namesakes: William Tudor, an English actor appearing in the HBO series Game of Thrones. Corneliu Vadim Tudor, a Romanian Senator from 1992 to 2008.
- Popularity: SSA figures for 2025 put Tudor at #13,726 as a first name.
Upjohn
Upjohn uses the medieval Welsh ap John and has been read as God has given me a son. It is occasionally linked to the Gaelic Mac Ewan as well. Of all the ap names that survived, this is the one that kept the prefix most visibly, sitting right there at the front.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Son of John
- Pronunciation: UHP-jon
- Namesakes: Richard Upjohn, a British-American architect known for his Gothic Revival churches in the U.S. Richard Upjohn Light, an American former president of the American Geographical Society.
- Popularity: There’s simply no SSA record of Upjohn, a name that has not reached five births in any year.
Vaughan
Vaughan comes from the Welsh bychan, small, and worked like Fychan to mark the younger member of a family. Calling someone the little one and then handing it down as a family name is very Welsh. The practice fits the same pattern that turned other nicknames into fixed surnames across Wales. The Vaughn spelling is the American simplification.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: The little
- Pronunciation: VAWN
- Variations: Vaughn
- Namesakes: Martin Vaughan, an Australian actor appearing in the miniseries Power Without Glory. Don Vaughan, a Canadian ice hockey coach for Colgate.
- Popularity: U.S. baby-name records place Vaughan at #13,759 in 2025, against a best of #1,517 back in 1947.
Wales
Wales was given to anyone from Wales, and also to someone who lived beside a stone-built wall. The Old English wealas simply meant foreigners before it came to mean the Welsh, which is a blunt reminder of who did the naming. Carrying it as a surname turns that history inside out.
- Origin: Welsh, Scottish
- Meaning: From Wales
- Pronunciation: Weylz
- Namesakes: Jimmy Wales, the American-British co-founder of Wikipedia. William Wales, a British astronomer who sailed with Captain Cook.
- Popularity: Wales fell off the SSA rankings after 1968, when it last stood at #4,732.
Wallace
Wallace derives from the Frankish Walhisk, foreigner, the same idea that produced Wales and Walsh. It was applied to Celts and Romans alike. Tradition also ties it to Welshmen who settled in Scotland. Three surnames from one word, spread across three countries, all meaning outsider.
- Origin: Welsh, Scottish
- Meaning: Welshman
- Pronunciation: WAA-Lahs
- Variations: Wallais, Wallice
- Namesakes: David Foster Wallace, an American writer best known for Infinite Jest (1996). Mary Wallace, an Irish Teachta Dála from 1989 to 2011.
- Popularity: Wallace’s best year was 1923, at #69; the 2025 SSA data has it at #964.
Walsh
Walsh is also an Irish surname, given to a Briton or any foreigner. It attached mostly to Welshmen taken to Britain by soldiers during the Norman invasion. The Walshe spelling is the older one. Like Wallace and Wales, it is a name that describes where someone was not from.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish
- Meaning: Foreigner
- Pronunciation: WAHLSH
- Variations: Walcsh, Walshe
- Namesakes: John Walsh, an American TV host of America’s Most Wanted. Brendan Walsh, an American chef and winner of the “Who’s Who of Cooking in America” James Beard Foundation Award.
- Popularity: Walsh hasn’t been recorded since 2022, when the SSA had it at #10,775.
Watkins
Watkins refers to the Welsh son of Watkin, and Watkin is a diminutive of Watt, itself a nickname for Walter, people rule. That is three steps of shortening before the surname even forms. Welsh families were fond of the little John pattern, and this is the Walter version of it.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Son of Walter
- Pronunciation: WAOT-Kihns
- Variations: Watkin
- Namesakes: Alan Watkins, a British columnist for The Sunday Express (1959 to 1964). Marley Watkins, a Welsh footballer for Aberdeen.
- Popularity: Watkins was strongest in 1918, at #4,155, and last appeared in SSA data in 1947, at #4,246.
Wiegold
Wiegold is probably tied to the German Weigold, which began as a given name joining wig, battle, and walt, ruler. The meaning has not carried into Welsh records, so the entry sits here on form rather than on a documented sense. It reads as Welsh on the page even without a confirmed Welsh story behind it.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Unknown
- Pronunciation: WEE-gold
- Variations: Weigold
- Namesakes: James Wiegold, a Welsh mathematician known for contributing to group theory.
- Popularity: There’s no SSA entry for Wiegold; the agency only publishes names that clear five births a year.
Williams
Williams comes from William, meaning wilful protector, with the Welsh s added to mark the family. In Welsh parish marriage registers from 1813 to 1837 it stood second at 8.91 percent, behind only Jones. It has held third place among U.S. surnames consistently. Few names have stayed that near the top in two countries at once.
- Origin: Welsh, Scottish
- Meaning: Son of William
- Pronunciation: WIHL-Yahmz
- Variations: Willems
- Namesakes: Barry Williams, an American actor best known for The Brady Bunch (1969 to 1974). Darryl Williams, an American football player for the Miami Hurricanes.
- Popularity: Williams has charted since 1880, sitting at #3,086 in 2025.
Wogan
Wogan derives from the Welsh given name Guoccaun and draws on gogawn, glory. The funnier reading comes from gwgan, used of someone who frowns or scowls. Either way, it lands as two syllables that read easily off an English page.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish
- Meaning: Frowner
- Pronunciation: WOH-gan
- Variations: Gwogan
- Namesakes: Christopher R. Wogan, a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from 1981 to 2002. Terry Wogan, an English-Irish radio broadcaster known for Wake Up to Wogan.
- Popularity: Not enough babies are named Wogan for the SSA to include it, five births being the floor.
Wynn
Wynn means friend in Old English and pure in Welsh, and it is usually connected to the Welsh Gwynne. In 2010 it ranked 1,203rd among U.S. surnames. Its listed sense, fair, is the one that carried into modern use.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Fair
- Pronunciation: WIHN
- Variations: Wynne, Wyn
- Namesakes: Peter Wynn, an Australian rugby league footballer for the Parramatta Eels. Ed Wynn, an American actor known for his Perfect Fool comedy character.
- Popularity: Wynn still charts for U.S. babies, at #1,726 in 2025, well off its #1,028 high in 1954.
Yale
Yale is based on the Welsh ial, and it named the fertile Plas-yn-lal Estate whose holders were called the Lords of Yale. The other reading, dweller at the fertile upland, says the same thing about the land. It is one of the few Welsh surnames Americans meet before they meet Wales.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Fertile ground
- Pronunciation: YEYL
- Namesakes: Brian Yale, an American musician and member of the band Matchbox Twenty. Kim Yale, an American comic book writer and editor for DC Comics.
- Popularity: Yale’s last appearance in the rankings was 2022, at #14,250, before it dropped off entirely.
Yarwood
Yarwood has more than one story. One joins the Old English earn, eagle, to wudu, wood. The other takes it from the Welsh Iorwerth, made of ior for lord and berth for handsome. The second is the more flattering, and it is the one Welsh families claim.
- Origin: Welsh, English
- Meaning: Handsome lord
- Pronunciation: YAAR-wood
- Variations: Yearwood
- Namesakes: Michael Yarwood, an English comedian known for his Sunday Night at the London Palladium show. Stephen Yarwood, the Lord Mayor of Adelaide, Australia, from 2010 to 2014.
- Popularity: Yarwood sits below what the SSA needs to publish a name, that floor being five births a year.
