This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Louis' or 'Lewis' (for the history of this personal name read an interesting account in Yonge, ii. 387-9). Miss Yonge thinks Lewis is used by the Welsh as an Anglicanism of Llewelyn. This view is confirmed by the following entry:

Llewelyn ap-Madoc, alias Lewis Rede, archdeacon, County of Brecon, 1437: History and Ant. St. David's.

John Levesone, Somerset, 1 Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Lewis ap-Owen, archdeacon, County of Cardigan, 1487: History and Ant. St. David's.

Lewis ap-Rhys, prebendary of St. David's, 1502: ibid.

William Lewson, archdeacon, County of Caermarthen, 1554: ibid.

1521. William Lewys and Alice Mason: Marriage Lic (London).

1586. Humphrey Smith and Ursula Lewson, alias Levison: ibid.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Lewis,' which see. Also v. Leeson.

Roger Leveson, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

William Leveson, Oxfordshire, ibid.

The Levisons in the New York Directory are mostly of Jewish parentage, 'the son of Levi,' as is shown by the personal names appended.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Leofwin,' from the popular form Lewin or Levin. Professor Freeman quotes, 'Leuuinus emit ab Alwino fratre suo,' and again, 'Hanc terrain dixit Leuuinus se tenere de Vlstano Episcopo' (History Norman Conq. v. 785).

Leofwin, son of Hugh, temp. Richard I: Freeman, Norman Conq.

Leofwin, son of Godwin, temp. Richard I: ibid.

This Leofwin was in command at Stamford Bridge.

Robert Lefwyne, Oxfordshire, 1273. Hundred Rolls.

Cecilia Leffeyne, Huntingdonshire, ibid.

Nicholas Leffeyne, Huntingdonshire, ibid.

William Lewine, Norfolk, ibid.

Henry Lewyn, Northumberland, ibid.

The above references very clearly mark the stages by which Lewin was reached.

Lewin Scani, Bedfordshire, 20 Edward I: Placita de Quo Warranto, temp. Edward I-III.

Henry Lewyn, burgess of Newcastle- on-Tyne, 1292: Brand's History of Newcastle.

1626. Baptised — Barbary, d. Levin Welden: St. Michael, Cornhill.

1674. Buried — A child of Charles and Levine Hornsby: St. Thomas the Apostle (London).

1 Levi’s Son: v. Levi.

2 for Leveson1, q.v.

3 for Levinson, q.v.

This personal name seems to be the common source of Levy, Levey, Levison, Leeves, &c.

1. A corruption of the well-known A-Sax, personal name, Leofwin. 2. A contraction of the Welsh Llewellyn.

The Welsh personal name, the same as the French Louis. Also one of the Hebrides. Many of the Welsh families conceal beneath this common, and usually plebeian name, blood and pedigree of remote antiquity. For example, Lewis of Greenmeadow springs from Gwaethvoed, descended from the ancient princes of Britain, and a contemporary of the Anglo-Saxon king Edgar. Lewis of Gilfach claims from Cradoc ap Guillym, who flourished in the XIII. century. Lewis of St. Pierre derives from Cadifor, prince or chieftain of Divet (a district which comprised Pembrokeshire and part of Caermarthen), about the time of the Norman Conquest. In these cases the name Lewis was not hereditary until temp. Henry VIII. or Elizabeth.

In the French, Louis; Latin, Ludovicus; Teutonic, Ludwig or Leodwig, from the Saxon Leod, the people, and wic, a castle—the safeguard of the people. Llnaws, Welsh, signifies a multitude.

From Levasson, Normandy. Robert de la Veneison, 1180-95 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); Adam, Richard, Robert de Leveson, Engl. c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum).

Lewis. —This name has its chief centre in South Wales and in the adjacent county of Monmouth. It is next most frequent in North Wales, Shropshire, and Herefordshire. Its main line of migration from its Welsh home has been to the south - east, and Berks and Hants represent the limits of its advance in that direction. Its sporadic occurrence in Norfolk is to be remarked; here likely enough it has had an independent origin.

Lewin is a name also found in the adjacent county of Hunts. It has been established in Northamptonshire since the reign of Edward the Confessor (Wh.). John de Leune was incumbent of Brington in the 14th century, and two incumbents of Sibertoft and Maidwell in the following century bore the name of Lewin (Wh.). In the forms of Lewin, Lewine, and Lewyn it occurred in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, and Lincolnshire in the reign of Edward I. (H. R.).

Lewis is an ancient Welsh name. Lewis of Llanelly, Brecknockshire, is the name of an old stock (Jones' "Brecknockshire"). The ancient family of Lewis, of St. Pierre, Monmouthshire, carried its name back to the 15th century but its pedigree far beyond (Coxe's "Monmouthshire").