Davis is a surname of English and Welsh origin.
As an English surname it may be a corruption of Davy or a reference to King David in the Old Testament. As a
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
surname may be a corruption of
Dyfed
Dyfed () is a preserved county in southwestern Wales. It is a mostly rural area with a coastline on the Irish Sea and the Bristol Channel.
Between 1974 and 1996, Dyfed was also the name of the area's county council and the name remains in use f ...
, related to Irish colonists who occupied an area of southwest Wales in the late third century and established a dynasty there which lasted five centuries. Dyfed is recorded as a surname as late as the twelfth century, e.g. Gwynfard Dyfed, born 1175. Dafydd (generally translated into English as David) appears as a given name in the thirteenth century, e.g.
Dafydd ap Gruffydd
Dafydd ap Gruffydd (11 July 1238 – 3 October 1283) was Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282 until his execution on 3 October 1283 on the orders of King Edward I of England. He was the last native Prince of Wales before the conquest of Wa ...
(1238–1283), Prince of Wales, and
Dafydd ab Edmwnd
Dafydd ap Edmwnd (fl. c. 1450–97) was one of the most prominent Welsh language poets of the Later Middle Ages.
Life
Dafydd was born into a family of Norman ancestry in Hanmer, in Flintshire (now Wrexham County Borough), north-east Wales. As a ...
( ), a Welsh poet. Alternatively, Davis may be a
patronymic surname
A patronymic surname is a surname originated from the given name of the father or a patrilineal ancestor. Different cultures have different ways of producing patronymic surnames.
For example, early patronymic Welsh surnames were the result of th ...
(''son of David'').
Davis is the 45th most common surname in England and 68th most common in Wales.
[ According to the 2000 United States census, it is the seventh most frequently reported surname, accounting for 0.48% of the population, preceding Garcia and following ]Miller
A miller is a person who operates a Gristmill, mill, a machine to grind a grain (for example corn or wheat) to make flour. Mill (grinding), Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne" and other variants are common surname ...
. It was the seventh most common surname in the United States in 2014.[ It is also recorded in the spellings of ]Davies
Davies is a patronymic surname of English or Welsh origin. There are two main theories concerning its beginnings, neither of which has been definitively proven. The first theory contends that it may be a corruption of "Dyfed", the name of a medie ...
, Davison and several others.
References
External links
Davis Family Papers, 1829–1915
New-York Historical Society
The New-York Historical Society is an American history museum and library in New York City, along Central Park West between 76th and 77th Streets, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The society was founded in 1804 as New York's first museum. ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Davis
English-language surnames
Surnames of Welsh origin
Anglicised Welsh-language surnames
Patronymic surnames
Jewish surnames
Surnames from given names