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Harris : Harries / Harry [buy tshirt]
Harris comes from son of Harry/Henry which became popular names from the 15th century onwards in Wales.
Famous people with the Welsh surname Harris include:
Thomas Harris – American writer famous for his books ‘The Red Dragon’ and ‘The Silence of the Lambs’, both made into successful films.
Rolf Harris – Welsh Australian entertainer and painter.
Richard Harris – Actor famous for films such as ‘Mutiny on the Bounty’, ‘Gladiator’ and the first two ‘Harry Potter’ films.
Hopkins : Popkins / Popkin / ap Hopkin / Hopkin [buy tshirt]
Quite a recent Welsh surname which is found in fairly small numbers It comes from the first name Hopkin (Hob a diminutive form of Robert and the hypocoristic suffix ‘Kin’) . The surname often stayed as Hopkin without the added ‘s’ and can also be found as Popkin from ap Hopkin, and then Popkins.
Famous people with the Welsh surname Hopkins include:
Anthony Hopkins – Actor made famous by his Hannibal Lecter character.
Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins) – Singer famous for hit songs ‘Total Eclipse of the Heart’ and ‘I Need A Hero’.
Mary Hopkin – Singer best known for the number one single ‘Those Were the Days’, she was one of the first musicians to sign to The Beatles’ Apple label.
Howells : Howell / Hywel [buy tshirt]
From the forename Hywel, pronounced in more anglised areas as ‘Howel’ or sometimes Hewel. As with other Welsh names beginning with ‘h’, ap Hywel attached itself to create Powell.
Famous people with the Welsh surname Howells include:
Charles Howell the 3d – An American golf player that has been featured in the top 15 of the official world golf rankings.
From the first name Huw / Hugh, also thought to equate to the Hywel name. Modern bearers often spell it as the more phonetic Huws. ap Huw also became Puw / Pugh/ e.
Famous people with the Welsh surname Hughes include:
John Hughes -The founder of the Russian steel industry and industrial city Hughesovka / Yuzovka – now called Donetsk who was invited over from the industrial hub of south Wales by the Russian Tsar to establish a Russian steel industry.
Howard Hughes – Pioneering aviator, engineer, industrialist, and film producer. Hughes was one of the wealthiest people in the world. He gained prominence by making big budget and often controversial films. He is one of the most influential aviators in history and set multiple world air speed records. He went on to acquire Trans World Airlines and later merged it with American airlines. Hughes was a descendant of Owen Tudor (Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur), one of the main founders of the Welsh Royal Tudor dynasty who ruled Britain from 1485 to 1603.
Mark Hughes – Welsh footballer and manager who served as an excellent manager for the Wales national football team.
William Morris “Billy” Hughes – He was the seventh Prime Minister of Australia and was in power from 1915 to 1923. He and David Lloyd George were both Welsh speakers who conducted their trans pacific conversations in their mother tongue.
David Edward Hughes – He was an experimental physicist, mostly in the areas of electricity and signals and is also the co inventor of the microphone. He invented the induction balance (later used in metal detectors) and in 1879 he transmitted and received radio waves using a detector made of carbon.
In 1879, years before Heinrich Hertz and sixteen years before Guglielmo Marconi had demonstrated the existence of radio waves, Hughes was already transmitting and receiving electromagnetic waves over several hundred metres.
Hughes also invented a printing telegraph system in the United States in 1855 which developed in to a number of small telegraph companies, including Western Union and which all finally united to form one large corporation – Western Union Telegraph Co to carry on the business of telegraphy on the Hughes system. In Europe, Hughes’ Telegraph System became an international standard.
Humphreys : Humphrey / Wmffre [buy tshirt]
Humphreys is a fairly recent Welsh surname. The phonetic Welsh spelling is sometimes found as Wmffre. Pumphrey from ap Humphrey is also found as is Bumfrey from ab Umrey.
Famous people with the Welsh surname Humphreys include:
Barry Humphreys AKA Dame Edna – A Welsh Australian cross dressing faux talk show host.
Llewelyn Morris Humphreys – Also known as The Camel,The Hump and Murray The Hump, he was a Welsh American Chicago mobster who was the chief political and labour racketeer in the Chicago Outfit during prohibition. One of the most famous American criminal gangsters and at one time America’s most wanted Mafiosi bosses.
John Humphreys – Journalist and broadcaster.
Herbert Humphrey – United States Vice President under Lyndon B. Johnson.
