Griffiths
A Welsh surname meaning “son of Griffith,” with Griffith itself coming from an old Welsh personal name.
The #2,444 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,854 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Griffiths is a patronymic surname built from the personal name Griffith, with the final -s meaning “son of” in surname use. The name Griffith goes back to the old Welsh name Gruffudd or Griffith, a traditional Welsh given name whose older form and exact early development are complex. In practice, the surname simply means “descendant of Griffith.”
History
The name is strongly associated with Wales and Welsh-speaking families, and it is one of the many English-form surnames that arose from a Welsh father’s given name. Historical records often show both Griffith and Griffiths side by side, and older sources explicitly treat Griffiths as a variant or pluralized patronymic form of Griffith. It remained especially common in Wales and in Welsh diaspora communities.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older records, families could appear under either Griffith or Griffiths, sometimes even within the same broader family line.
From the historical record
“Crockford, a. Griffith, Griffiths. — Bapt. (Welsh). A variant of Griffin, q.v. John ap Griffith, of Banj^or, 15S5: Wills at Chester (1545-16J0X P- 77-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)