Lewis (surname)

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For other uses, see Lewis.
Lewis
Family name
Pronunciation Lewis
Region of origin Normandy, England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales.
Related names Lewes, Louis, Luis
Footnotes: [1]

Lewis is a surname in the English language. It has several independent origins.

One of origins of the surname, in England and Wales, is from the Norman personal name Lowis, Lodovicus. This name is composed of the Germanic elements hlod and wig, meaning "fame" and "war". The name developed into the Old French Clovis, Clouis, Louis; as well as into the German Ludwig. The name Lowis spread to England through the Normans. Lewis has since become confused with other unrelated names. One such name is Llywelyn in Welsh which has been Anglicised into Lewis, with among the earliest examples being the Lewis family of Glamorgan in the 1540s.[2] Another is the Gaelic surname Mac Lughaidh, meaning "son of Lughaidh", which has also been Anglicised as Lewis. The surname Lewis is also an Americanization of several like-sounding Jewish surnames,[3] such as "Levi."

Lewis is the 23rd-most common surname in the United Kingdom.[4]

List of people having surname Lewis

Music

Television and film

Sports

Literature

Modelling

Business

Politics

Military and naval

Economics

Science

Visual art

Religion

Philosophy

Law

  • Bayan Lewis, Los Angeles police chief
  • George Henry Lewis (1833–1911), English lawyer of Jewish extraction
  • James W. Lewis, American convicted in relation to the 1982 Tylenol scare
  • Johnnie Lewis, Liberian judge
  • R. Fred Lewis, American judge
  • Terry Lewis (Queensland), former Queensland police commissioner
  • Theodore G. Lewis, American judge
  • William Draper Lewis, American legal scholar

Stage

Other

List of fictional characters having surname Lewis

  • Alphie Lewis, fictional character from House of Anubis
  • Anne Lewis, fictional cop character in RoboCop and its first two sequels
  • Bill Lewis III, fictional character from Guiding Light
  • Charlotte Lewis (Lost), fictional character from LOST
  • Cliff Lewis, fictional character from Matlock
  • Darcy Lewis, fictional character in Thor (film) & Thor: The Dark World
  • Edward Lewis, fictional character in Pretty Woman
  • Josh and Reva Lewis, fictional characters from Guiding Light
  • Luke Lewis, fictional character from music business Universal
  • Marisol Lewis, from Degrassi
  • Meldrick Lewis, from Homicide: Life on the Street
  • Robbie Lewis, fictional character in Inspector Morse and Inspector Lewis
  • Shelley Lewis, fictional character from EastEnders
  • Simon Lewis, fictional character from The Mortal Instruments (series)
  • Susan Lewis, fictional character from ER
  • Tony Lewis, fictional character from The Tenth Kingdom
  • Vanessa Lewis, fictional character from Virtua Fighter

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1990 Census Name Files
  2. ↑ The National Library of Wales
  3. ↑ "Learn about the family history of your surname". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 10 October 2010.  which cited Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-508137-4.  for the surname "Lewis".
  4. ↑ British surnames
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