A Simple Guide to Constructing 16th Century Welsh Names
(in English Contexts)

by Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasvryn
(Heather Rose Jones, hrjones@uclink.berkeley.edu)
copyright © 1996, all rights reserved

This pamphlet looks at the more typical names and name formats that appear in Welsh records during the 16th century. The sources for this pamphlet are a collection of late-16th century toll records from Pembrokeshire and summaries of legal procedings from Chancery records of the first half of the 16th century. For various practical reasons, I have used the first primarily for men's names and the second primarily for women's names. These records were written by primarily (if not exclusively) English- speaking people, and so you will not necessarily find "classical" Welsh spellings of names used. This pamphlet does not attempt to describe all the possible names and name patterns that could be found in 16th century Wales, but rather is a guide to how to construct a name that would be "typical" for the time and place. If you are interested in investigating the sources in more detail, see my articles Names and Naming Practices in Some North Pembrokeshire Toll Books (1599-1603) and Women's Names in the First Half of 16th century Wales.

Given Names

Men's Names

Women's Names

Name Patterns

Patronyms

For a woman, her given name would be followed by verch instead of ap. Women are less likely to omit this part of the structure than men are.

Here are the typical patterns of names with patronyms, in order of popularity. Actual examples of each type of name have been given.

<given name> <father's given name>

Griffith David

Agnes Owen

<given name> <father's given name> <grandfather's given name>

David William Thomas

(no women's examples with this pattern)

<given name> ap <father's given name>

Lewis ap Rees

Gwen verch Ieuan

<given name> ap <father> ap <grandfather>

David ap Hoell ap Griffith

Margaret verch Gruffith ap Gwyn

With some names, ap can combine with the following name as a single word. The following are typical examples:

In some cases with a single patronym (only the father), we find examples where an s has been appended to the end of the name, rather than ap before it. The following are typical examples:

For the most part, these combined forms are rarer than ones with ap.

Non-Patronymic Bynames

Place-Names

Personal Nicknames

English words that derive from personal nicknames are more likely to be inherited surnames, but some such as Younge [young], Whit [white], and Browne [brown] may be translations of the equivalent Welsh nicknames (bychan, gwyn, llwyd).

Occupations

Non-Welsh Surnames In general, one can expect that these belong to people whose families moved into Wales from England or elsewhere. In theory, almost any English surname of this period might have ended up in Wales, and you can find this type of surname being used with unmistakably Welsh given names.

A Particular Note On Women's Names

Bibliography

Jones, Heather Rose. Women's Names in the First Half of 16th Century Wales in Y Camamseriad 4 (1996).

Lewis, E.A. An Inventory of the Early Chancery Proceedings Concerning Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1937.

Lewis, E.A. The Toll Books of Some North Pembrokeshire Fairs (1599-1603) in The Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies vol.7 (1934).