Given name & surname · also Middle English
Welsh
“Briton; Roman; Celt”
Welsh is a surname from Middle English, ultimately from Gaulish.
Meaning & origin
What it means
Welsh goes back to Old English wǣlisċ, meaning “Briton; Roman; Celt.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Welsh comes from Middle English, and ultimately from Gaulish.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Middle English Walsch, from Old English wǣlisċ (“Briton; Roman; Celt”), from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz (“Celt; later Roman”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Welsh’s family of names
Welsh has an affectionate form in Nye. In English usage, Welsh as a surname shares a linguistic root with the Dutch form Waals. Welsh has an English adaptation in Shanee.
Inner ring: spellings · middle: nicknames and forms · outer: across languages.
Around the world
Welsh has relatives in 3 languages. Lines run from its Proto-Celtic roots to each of them.
8 related names in 3 languages. Point at a dot, or tab to the map and use the arrow keys.
Nicknames & forms 8
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Spellings & scripts 1
The same name written differently, including transliterations into other scripts.
Across languages 13
Equivalents and cognates in other languages, plus older forms it grew from.
See also 2
Names our sources mention alongside this one. They are related in story or meaning, not forms of this name.
Similar names
If you love Welsh, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
Went
“crossroad, passage”
—
Welyokassos
“modesty”
>99% boys
Woods
“a woman of the forest” · “a man of the forest”
98% boys · 2% girls
Weekeen
“village”
—
Wanless
“hopeless, luckless”
—
Werkassiwellaunos
Werkassiwellaunos is a masculine given name from Proto-Celtic. It is used in Gaulish.
>99% boys
Eccles
“church”
—
Werkingetorix
“over, super-”
>99% boys