Unlike the English, Welsh people did not generally adopt the use of static surnames until nearly the 18th Century.

In many cases, the names generally identified as "Welsh" are not original Welsh names.  Rather, they are transliterations of English names for the Christian saints (e.g., John, David, Thomas).  Some surnames, however, do derive from ancient roots (e.g., Tudor, Owen, Meredith, Morgan, Vaughan).

Patronymics

Historically, the Welsh practiced a naming system known as "patronymics," which means the child's surname is the father's given name.  For example, John Morris could be the son of Morris Rhys, who was the son of Rhys James.  Why are there relatively few surnames?  The early Christian tradition in Wales was to use saints' names when christening children.

Conversion to static, or fixed, family surnames began in the 15th Century.  By the year 1850, however, most Welsh people had adopted static, or fixed, family surnames.  The conversion began in the upper echelon of society and worked down; it was seen more prominently along the Welsh/English border at the beginning and slowly moved westward.  In North Wales, adopting place names was more popular; in Mid-Wales and along the borders, early families adopted nicknames as surnames.

The GENUKI Web site notes, "One evident result of this gradual development is the lack of variety of surnames in many parts of Wales, whereas, in the border counties, venerable Welsh names such as Llywarch survive as surnames to this day. Another is the existence of many Welsh surnames beginning with P or B: Bowen (from 'ab Owen'); Beynon (from 'ab Eynon'); Powell (from 'ap Howell'); and Prytherch and Prothero (from 'ap Rhydderch')."

Why is this important?  It is impossible to research Welsh ancestry prior to the year 1800 without considering patronymics, both for straight naming and for name variations that arose from prefixes.  Researchers must also study the transition of surnames from ancient Welsh to modern forms.  The surname Vaughn, for example, derives from the Welsh word "fychan" (pronounced vuh-kahn, with accent on the second syllable), which means "smaller" or "younger."

In earliest records, Welsh names usually included the prefixes "ab" or "ap" before the second name.  "Ab" and "ap" mean "son of."  Women's names commonly contained the prefix "ferch" (often written "verch"), which means "daughter of."  For example, a female child in the 16th Century might have been baptized Rachel verch Daffyd ap Ioan (Rachel, daughter of David, son of John).

Married women were also commonly referred to by their maiden names in early Welsh records.  For example, one might find "Margaret Davies, wife of Thomas John."

• J. B. Davies' article, Welsh Names and Surnames, available on this Web site.
• T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan, Welsh Surnames.  (Cardiff:  University of Wales Press, 1985).
• John Rowlands and Sheila Rowlands, The Surnames of Wales:  For Family Historians and Others.  (Birmingham, UK:  Federation of Family History Societies, 1996).  Here is a review of the book from the GENUKI Web site:

  "The dominance of a small number of common surnames in Wales can be a major stumbling block for those researching their Welsh ancestry or those wishing to distinguish between individuals within a given community as part of a local history study. This book attempts to dispel the myths that surround the subject of surnames in Wales - such as the widely-held belief (outside Wales) that nearly everyone is called Jones - by describing the development of surnames within Wales down to modern times. Equal emphasis has been given within the text to common names found throughout Wales and to rarer ones found only in specific localities. [The survey given] of surnames in Wales in the period 1813-1837 can be used to suggest a place of origin within Wales for groups of people (a minimum of two) about whom all that is known is that 'they came from Wales'. For many people whose ancestors left Wales for other parts of Britain or the New World this predictive method could offer the first real opportunity for making progress in tracing those elusive (and often seemingly anonymous) Welsh ancestors by narrowing down the potential search area."

  H. W. Guppy's Homes of Family Names in Great Britain (Baltimore, MD:  Genealogical Publishing Company, 1968) is a tremendous study of the development of surnames, the locations where many of them originated, and discussions of their dispersion throughout the country.