Made in Wales - Volume 4

This is Volume 4, of several, intended to provide information for Welsh people around the world - or for those around the world who are interested in Wales and 'things Welsh'.  The contents first appeared in, and I have now extracted them from, a website that I created a few years ago. 

Once the other Volumes have been posted, you should be able to jump from one Volume to another by clicking on the links included below. Links throughout theses Volumes are appear thus:italicized, underlined, in purple

Volume 1 - Welsh Authors and Books
Volume 2 - Welsh Actors
Volume 3 - Welsh Singers
Volume 4 - Welsh Names
Volume 5 - Welsh Stuff to download 
Volume 6 - Welsh and Wales - via internet links
Volume 7 - Welsh Images

Volume 4 - Welsh Names

Butcher, Baker, Candlestick Maker . . . 

. . . you name it - there was a Welsh man or woman famous in that field.

In Wales, the frequent repetition of names in a small community often lead to the need for an 'attachment' of an occupation (or trait) to distinguish among people of identical or similar name.

For example, two fellows named John Evans may have been 'tagged' as 'Evans-the-Bread' (a Baker) and 'Evans-the-Death', or maybe 'Evans Six Foot Deep' (undertakers). 

It was also common (if not very imaginative) for men to carry their father's surname as their forename. For example: Evan Evans, Hugh Hughes, or Thomas Thomas; one very famous hymn-writer was William Williams (Pantycelyn). 

In more ancient Welsh times, the appearance of "ap" in a name was comparable to the prefixes "Mac-" (or " Mc-"), "O'-", "Fitz-" and the suffixes "-son", "-sen", "-inho" to indicate that the person was 'the son of' another. 
For example, someone called Huw ap Rhys was 'Huw, the son of Rhys'; or a William ap Harry was . . . well you get it! 
However, as time passed, some contractions and anglicizations occurred such that the 'ap Rhys' became 'Price' (or 'Preece'), 'ap Harry' became 'Parry' and the duplicative 'Hugh ap Hughes' became 'Hugh Pugh'! 

Let's take a look at some Welsh names - and their origin / derivation / meaning.

Welsh male namesThere are also these two lists:  

Welsh female names  

A common surname name in Wales is Davies - which in Wales is pronounced Day-viss, but in the US is pronounced 'Day-vees'. Of course, the spelling commonly used in the US is Davis. As a first name in Wales, 'David' has various forms - most commonly heard are Dafydd ('Dah-vith'), Dave, Davy, Dai. 

There being no letter 'J' in the Welsh alphabet, the name 'Jenkins' would be pronounced 'Shenkins'.    

If asked "Who is the Prince of Wales?", do NOT say 'Charles' - Owain Glyndwr was the last true Welsh-born Prince of Wales- way back in the 14th and 15th century! 

Anyway, no matter what the origin of their names, here are dozens upon dozens of famous Welsh people - explore and enjoy your heritage, through them, in this link from Wikipedia: Who's who??

                                                       What is yours?