Davies is a patronymic surname of Welsh origin. There are two main theories concerning its beginnings, neither of which has been definitively proved. The first theory states that it may be a corruption of "Dyfed", the name of a medieval Welsh kingdom located in what is now Carmarthenshire; however, the origin of the kingdom's name is itself disputed, with the traditional belief being that it was founded by the powerful Irish Déisi dynasty in the third century,^[1] or otherwise that it derives from the name of the Demetae people.^[2] "Dyfed" as a surname and the related first name "Dafydd" appear from the 12th century, with the latter generally translated into English as "David". The second theory contends that the surname may derive directly from the Hebrew name "David", which is also the name of Wales' patron saint.^[3]

The surname is the joint-second most common in Wales (tied with Williams) and the eighth most common in England, where a large percentage of people have Welsh ancestry.^[4] It is particularly widespread in southwest England, especially Cornwall, and in northwest England, large parts of which are on the border with Wales.^[4] It is uncommon in the United States, where the variant "Davis" is seen more.^[5] In the United Kingdom, the surname is usually pronounced the same as "Davis" (DAY-vis). This pronunciation is also used by many other English-speaking countries, though it sometimes competes with DAY-veez, which is particularly common in the United States to distinguish it from "Davis".

Notable people with the surname

See also

• Davis (disambiguation), a placename and surname, among other uses
• Davies-Gilbert
• Baron Davies
• Llewelyn Davies, the family closely connected with J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan

Notes

References