Davies
A Welsh patronymic surname meaning “son of David,” later also used widely in England.
The #1,030 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,147 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Davies is the Welsh patronymic form built on the given name David, with the ending -s marking descent or affiliation: essentially “David’s son” or “descendant of David.” The personal name David ultimately comes from Hebrew, meaning “beloved.” In English records, Davies and Davis were often treated as near-equivalents, with spelling varying by region and clerical habit.
History
The name became especially common in Wales, where patronymic naming was long traditional, and it later spread widely into England. Nineteenth-century surname writers noted Davies among the most numerous surnames in England and Wales, reflecting both Welsh concentration and broader British use. The spelling Davies is generally associated more strongly with Welsh families, while Davis is a close English-language variant.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Because Davis and Davies were often counted together in older statistics, some nineteenth-century writers treated them as effectively the same surname for frequency rankings.
From the historical record
“DAVIDS. DAVIDSON. See David. DAVIES. See David. Owing to the commonness of the Welsh patronymical use of Davies, this name stands fifth in point of numerousness m England and Wales, yielding priority only to Smith, Jones, Williams, and Taylor. In the XVI. Ann. Rep. of the Registrar Gen., the num- ber of Williamses…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom