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THE WELSH ORIGINS |
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THE PREECES OF BUXTON |
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THE WELSH ORIGINS |
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From the end of the Middle Ages Welsh people began to use hereditary English style surnames. The wealthier sections of society began the fashion eventually spreading very slowly down the social ladder and into the remoter areas. The English preferred surnames derived from place-names (Buxton), nicknames and occupations (Wainwright), while the Welsh favoured patronymics (a name derived from the name of a father or ancestor) , the result being that Wales ended up with a limited range of surnames. |
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By the sixteenth century many of the personal names that had been used by the Welsh fell out of favour to be replaced by a small group of names introduced by the Normans. This change was not successful as it did not identify Welshmen from their neighbours, to avoid confusion another naming system would have to be found. Some people became known by their first name or surname with the name of their farm attached. In the early 1400s Welsh gentry started to use English style surnames and the Act of Union 1536 bought about widespread changes, with this system being used widely in most parts of Wales. |
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However in the more remote areas the old ap- or ab- form of naming, denoting the relation ship of father and son was used well in to the 18th century and sometimes in to the 19th century. Llwelyn ap Gruffydd would have meant, under the Welsh system, that Llwelyn was the son of Gruffydd, however under the English system it became Llwelyn Griffiths. By adding the genitive -s meant he was the 'son of', a method that was commonly used in the English border counties and was readily copied by the Welsh. Some surnames were formed by adding ap- or ab- to the father's name, especially when the name began with a vowel or where it could be more easily attached to the letter "R". To help pronunciation the "A"' was dropped to form such names as: Bevan (son of Evan), Bowen (son of Owen), Parry, Pritchard, Pugh and, more importantly, the son of Reece, our own surname - PREECE |
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