Howell (name)


Howell is a surname and given name originating from Wales. It is an anglicised form of the Welsh name Hywel. It originates in a dynasty of kings in Wales and Brittany in the 9th and 10th-centuries, most notably king Hywel Dda and three Welsh royal houses of that time onwards. The royal House of Tudor was also descended from them. Today, nearly 200,000 people bear this surname.

Etymology and history

Welsh origin

The name Howell originates from the Welsh masculine given name, Hywel, meaning "eminent" or "prominent", derived from the Old Welsh given name, Higuel. Literally meaning, hy- + gwêl, "well-seen".
The first known recording of the name comes in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, referring to a Brittonic king known as Huwal of the West Welsh in 926 AD. Many scholars believe this to be referring to the 10th-century law giving Welsh king, Hywel Dda, to which many Howells claim their descent from. He is the most famous historical bearer of the name, and was recorded with the title King of the Britons by 950 AD.
Howell as a surname is derived from the name of an ancestor, meaning the "son of Hoel". Its original Welsh form would use the prefix ap, for example: Owain ap Hywel. The Latin motto for the Howell family name is Virtus in arduo. Howell as a given name has been popular in honour of Hywel Dda since the Middle Ages.
In Geoffrey of Monmouth's 12th-century pseudohistorical Historia regum Britanniae, there is mention of a late 5th and early 6th-century Brittonic king known as Hywel the Great, said to be born in around 500 AD. This is the earliest claimed account of the name, although Hywel the Great is generally considered as legendary, he appears in Welsh mythology and the Matter of Britain as a "king of Brittany". He is considered a Welsh saint and was said to have been a relative of the legendary King Arthur.

In England

After the English Conquest of Wales in the 13th-century, followed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 in the 16th-century, Wales was incorporated into the Kingdom of England. This resulted in the migration of Howells into Western England from Wales, particularly in counties along the Anglo-Welsh border. Many settlers anglicized their surnames from their original Welsh forms, such as "Hywel" to instead "Howell". In the Eastern English counties, the name was brought by Breton settlers after the Norman Conquest. The Breton forms of the name were Houuel, Huwel, Huwal, and Howael. There is also a claim for the surname having separate English origins, from the place-name Howell found in Lincolnshire and derived from the Old English, hugol meaning “mound” or “hillock.”

In the British Empire

As a result of English colonialism and subsequently, the British Empire, descendants of the Howell family name can be found across the world. Today, It is most prevalently found in the core Anglosphere countries, such as the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. However, during the period of slavery in the British colonies, many slaves were known by the surname of their masters, or adopted those surnames upon their emancipation. Some descendants of these formerly enslaved peoples, continue to bear these surnames today, particularly in countries in the West Indies.

Geographical distribution

As of 2014, over 74.0% of all known bearers of the surname Howell were residents of the United States, 12.3% are in the British Isles 4.6% in Australia, 3.0% in Canada, 1.7% in Jamaica, 0.8% in South Africa and 0.7% in New Zealand.
Notable people with the name include:

Surname

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

P

R

S

T

V

W

Y

Given name

Fictional characters

  • Brutus "Brutal" Howell, prison guard played by David Morse in The Green Mile
  • Claire Howell, prison guard played by Kristin Rohde on TV's Oz
  • Thurston Howell III, millionaire played by Jim Backus on TV's Gilligan's Island
  • Lovey Howell, wife of Thurston, played by Natalie Schafer on Gilligan's Island
  • Elliot Howell III, fictional Hindenburg passenger credited to Colby Chester in the eponymous film
  • Howell Jenkins, real name of Wizard Howl in the fantasy trilogy Howl's Moving Castle
  • Carl Howell, in the TV series Glee, played by John Stamos