Hi Amy, I have looked on the 1881 Census and there are 89 instances of the surname usually Kneath in Wales. They are all in south Wales. The following is from The Surnames of Wales by John and Sheila Rowlands <Kneath is a name of misleading appearance to modern eyes, when readers expect initial "kn" to be pronounced "n" and the the name should sound like that of the Welsh town Neath. Instead it derives from the Welsh personal name Cynaethwy, leading to the colloquial forms, Cnaitho, Cneitho eventually becoming Cnaith and under the influence of English orthography, Kneath (originally pronounced to rhyme with "great". 1813-37 Found only in a small part of west Glamorgan (Gower, 0.68%, Swansea, 0.23%). I hope this helps. Regards, Margaret Harvey ----- Original Message ----- From: "Amy Robison" <arobison@log.on.ca> To: <WALES-GEN-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, February 24, 2002 5:33 PM Subject: [WALES-GEN] Neath Family > Hello, > > Could anyone tell me about the surname Neath. I've heard that it originated in Wales. Any help would be greatly appreciated. > > Thanks, > Amy Robison > Ontario, Canada > > > ==== WALES-GEN Mailing List ==== > Have you used Tree Tops? > The Free FAMILY TREE & WE'LL MEET AGAIN SERVICE > http://freespace.virgin.net/tree.tops > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 > >