Surnames of the Welsh/Cymry

The following is a 19^th century satire about an English judge trying to sort out Welsh surnames as part of the “Anglicization” process:

Then strove the judge with main and might

The surrounding consonants to write

But when the day was almost gone

He found his work not nearly done.

His ears assailed most woefully

With names like Rhys ap Griffith Ddu,

Aneirin, Iorweth, Ieuan Goch,

And Llyarch Hen o Aabersoch,

Taliesin ap Llewelyn Fawr

And Llun ap Arthur Bach y Cawr.

Until at length, in sheer despair,

He doffed his wig and tore his hair

And said he would no longer stand

The surnames of our native land.

“Take ten,” he said, “and call them Rice,”

“Take another ten and call them Price.”

“Take fifty others, call them Pughs,”

“A hundred more – I’ll dub them Hughes.”

“Now Roberts name some hundred score,”

“And Williams name a legion more.”

“And call,” he said in disdained tones,

“Call the remaining thousands Jones.”

--Anonymous

Here is something a little closer to the ‘truth’ –-

An explanation of how the name Jones came to be

Excerpted from writings by B. Penry, Welsh Society of Central Ohio member

Used with permission from the Welsh Society of Central Ohio, http://www.centralohiowelsh.org.

Now for the answer to the burning question "Where in the heck did the name Jones come from?" I give you the following. Start with the Biblical name John. Change it into its Celtic spelling Iohannes which was pronounced almost like the French Jean (Zhahn). Change it back to its non-Celtic spelling John, but keep the Celtic pronunciation. Using the patronymic method change John to Johnes. Drop the silent "h", and we get "Jones"(pronounced Zhones). Mutate the pronunciation from the soft Celtic "J" to the hard English "J". Add a Welsh accent to the letter "o" and there you are! Please note that in some cases, the name John was spelled in Welsh as Sion.

Some sources of information:

	A Dictionary of English & Welsh Surnames, Charles Wareing Bardsley, Oxford U Press, 1896
	A Simple Guide to Construction of 13th Century Welsh Names by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, (Heather Rose Jones) Berkeley, 1996
	A Simple Guide to Construction of 16th Century Welsh Names (In English Contexts) by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn, (Heather Rose Jones) Berkeley, 1996
	Dictionary of First Names, Hanks & Hodges, Oxford U Press, 1990

The Data-Wales web site offers a nice overview of Welsh surnames and patronymics – the internal links, listed at the bottom of their page, lead to additional interesting information.

BACK to Genealogy -- main page

Flag of Wales/Cymru -- Welsh red dragon Contact us info@welshcountrydancers.org