| Evans | |
|---|---|
| Family name | |
| Meaning | "Son of Evan" |
| Region of origin | Wales |
| Footnotes: [1] | |
Evans is a family name of Welsh, and possibly Cornish,[2][3] origin. Within the United Kingdom it is the 8th most common surname, being most common in the city of Swansea, Wales.[4] Within the United States, it is ranked as the 48th-most common surname.[5]
Evans is of Welsh origin. In its anglicised form the name means "son of Evan". Regarding its Welsh roots, it is a derivative of the name Ifan, a cognate of John.[6] In the Welsh language, the f produces the v sound; Ifan (Ivan) became Evan.
It is somewhat of a misconception that Evans is a patronymic name. The name does refer to Evan-S, meaning son of John; however, the historic context is that many Welsh were relative latecomers to Christianity, and around the 3rd century A.D. a huge evangelical conversion began. Converted followers took the name "Son of John (the Baptist)", in reference to John the Baptist as the baptiser of Jesus Christ and a symbolic cornerstone of Christian conversion. It is possible that, later on, some took it as meaning the son of their own father called Evan (John), but the practice of religious forenames being converted into surnames by the addition of "s" or "son" (Jackson, Johnson etc.) does not account for the huge incidence of this name in south Wales.
In the Welsh language the patronymic "ab Evan" resulted in the anglicized surname "Bevan", which is also common in Wales.
An alternative view: Evans is the Latinized form of Owain, viz. Yvainne or Yvain. There is no record of the name pre 14th century.