Lewis History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

The proud Lewis surname is from the personal name Lewis, an Anglicized form of the Welsh name Llewellyn. This name is often explained as meaning “lion-like,” but is in fact probably derived from the Welsh word “llyw,” which means “leader.” Alternatively, the name Lewis is also an Anglo-French form of the Old Frankish name Hludwig, which means “loud battle.”

Early Origins of the Lewis family

The surname Lewis was first found in Glamorganshire (Welsh: Sir Forgannwg), a region of South Wales, anciently part of the Welsh kingdom of Glywysing, where the family held a seat from ancient times.

Early History of the Lewis family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Lewis research. Another 119 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1598, 1616, 1625, 1627, 1640, 1650, 1660, 1661, 1664, 1669, 1674, 1675, 1677, 1679, 1690, 1699, 1706 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Lewis History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Lewis Spelling Variations

The Welsh have an extremely large amount of spelling variations of their native surnames to their credit. It was up to the priest or the scribe taking the official records to determine how the spoken name was to be made literal. As time progressed, the old Brythonic names of Wales were recorded in English, which was especially problematic since the English language had extreme difficulty recording the highly inflected sounds of Cymraeg. Spelling variations were, however, also carried out according to an individual’s design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations could be indicated by spelling variations of one’s name. The spelling variations of the name Lewis have included Lewis, Lewiss, Lewess, Lews, Llewys, Llewis, Lewwis, Llewess and many more.