The story in my James family (which has never been proven or disproven), is that when the English insisted that the Welsh take surnames, the people of the village where my ancestor lived (unfortunately I don't know where that was!!) decided to do just that-- and they all took the last name of JAMES!! Knowing how fond the Welsh were of the English at that time in history (and perhaps still today), this story would not surprise me if it turned out to be true. Susan --- Original Message --- From: "Gwen Boyer Bjorkman" <gwenbj@seanet.com> To: JAMES-L@rootsweb.com Subject: FW: [PaOldC] Welsh patronymic naming >Here is an interesting website on the Welsh Patronymics. I was surprised to read this in the list >of most common Welch names. > >James - an English name which became popular in Wales from the 15th century > >Gwen Boyer Bjorkman >gwenbj@seanet.com > >-----Original Message----- >From: Sandra Ferguson [mailto:ferg@ntelos.net] >Sent: Thursday, July 06, 2006 3:00 PM >To: PA-OLD-CHESTER-L@rootsweb.com >Subject: [PaOldC] Welsh patronymic naming > >This site has some interesting 'twists' on the Welsh patronymic naming, >including a list of the most common Welsh surnames. >S. > > >http://www.amlwchdata.co.uk/welsh_surnames.htm