EDWARDS

EDWARDS. This name is so common tliat more than two hundred and fifty London traders bear it. In the RegistrarGeneral's List it occupies the twentieth place for frequency, there being for every four Smiths or Joneses about one Edwards, or 25 per cent. Many families of Edwards and Edwardes are of Welsh patrician origin. For example, Edwards of Nanhoron descends from one of the royal tribes of Wales through Sir Griffitli Lloyd and Sir Howell yFwyallt; Edwards of Ness Strange descends from Eiuion Effel, lord of Cynllaeth, co. Montgomery, 1182; Edwards of Old-Court, co. Wicklow, claims from Roderick tlie Great, king of all Wales in 848, through his younger son, Tudwall Glojf or "the lame," whose descendants settled iu Ireland in the XVII. century. It may seem remarkable that such a thoroughly Saxon name should occur so frequently in Welsh families of ancient blood, but it must be remembered that settled surnames do not appear among the Welsh till within the last two or three centuries, long after the prejudices against our early Edwards had passed away. See Edwardes.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.