The surname Lewis began life as a first name. It means ‘renowned or famous in battle’, and its original form was first found in Germany where it is now found in the form Ludwig. When the name crossed to France as Lowis or Louis, it soon became popular. This popularity increased through the centuries, as we can see from the fact that France had no fewer than eighteen kings called Louis, one of whom even became a saint. As the name Louis spread beyond the borders of France it changed once more. In Italy it became Luigi, and by the time it came to England with the Norman invasion it had become Lewis.

In this form the name gradually spread across the entire country, although being originally a foreign name it never achieved the same popularity as it achieved in France. Why, then, are there now so many Lewis’s? The answer to this question lies in their distribution.

Lewis’s have existed for many centuries throughout all the English counties, and in Wales they are extremely plentiful. The theory which best accounts for the proliferation of Welsh Lewis’s is that the Welsh name Lewis is in fact an attempted anglicisation of the Welsh name Llewelyn. (In times of persecution, when Wales was only a princedom under repression, many Welshmen found it expedient to change their name to a more English form.) This theory may sound rather far-fetched, but it would appear to be confirmed by the earliest reference we have to the name Lewis. In the 1413 records the Alderman of Brecon is given as ‘Llewelyn ap-Madoc, alias Lewis Rede’. By then Lewis was certainly a widespread and popular name and over 100 years later it crops up in Shakespeare, a distinction shared by very few of the more popular British names. Among these few are two other predominantly Welsh names: Thomas and Griffith.

There are several names which derive directly or indirectly from Lewis. The best known of these are Leuis, Lowis, Lewse-all being simply variations in spelling dating from the times before spelling was formalised. (Lewison, from ‘son of Lewis’, is also popular.) However, the similar-looking name of Lewes is not a variation of Lewis. It is a local name, deriving from the town in Sussex, and means ‘hills or mounds’, referring to the Downs among which the town lies.

Another origin of the name Lewis results from the eastern European pogroms of the last century. During this time many Jews crossed over to England and on arrival decided to anglicise their names. A number of refugees with the name Levinsky changed it to Lewin, Levin or Lewis.

Owing to its popularity in Britain and France-two of Europe’s major colonising nations-the name Lewis (or Louis) has spread around the globe. Over the centuries it has been particularly popular in the United States. Here we find it in St Louis, in Louisville, and even in the State of Louisiana (which, under French colonial rule-before the famous Louisiana Purchase in 1803-stretched from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico up into the Mid-West, to within a few hundred miles of the Great Lakes).

In America, because of this early pervasive French influence, the French spelling of Louis is still more popular than the Anglo-Welsh Lewis (e.g. Louis Armstrong), so much so that its popularity as a first name in this French form has even spread back across the Atlantic, but this time to England.

The American explorer Meriwether Lewis (1774—1809) led the great overland journey to the Pacific coast, thus opening up the north-west to a flood of settlers. Despite encounters with grizzly bears, Indians, rattlesnakes and near-starvation Lewis’s only brush with death came when a hunting companion mistook him for an elk and shot him in the leg.

As a reward for his explorations he was appointed the first governor of Louisiana but died soon after in mysterious circumstances.

The first machine-gun was invented by the American Isaac Newton Lewis (1858—1931). The American military brass proved uninterested in his new invention so he took it to Europe in 1913 where the Lewis Gun played a vital part in the last stages of World War I. Over 100,000 were manufactured for the Allied armies by the Birmingham Small Arms Company.

Many Lewis’s have achieved fame as writers. The first American to win the Nobel Prize was Sinclair Lewis, whose best-seller Main Street swept him to fame. C. Day Lewis (1904—72) was one of the ‘Thirties Poets’ of Auden’s generation. He later became Poet Laureate. The controversial writer-artist Percy Wyndham Lewis founded the English modernist movement called Vorticism, which created a furore prior to World War I. The prolific scholar-writer C.S. Lewis is best remembered for his Screwtape Letters.

Lewis’s have produced several jazz greats. George Lewis was a veteran of the Old New Orleans style and John Lewis, the composer-pianist, recorded with Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie.

The United Kingdom has a Lewisham (along with South Africa), a Lewis, a Lewiston and a Butt of Lewis. A total of 22 United States towns and cities are Lewis-related. Both Australia and the US have Lewis Ranges and the name is geographically common.

With about 179,000 namesakes Lewis is the 19th most popular surname in England and Wales. (The name is not common enough throughout Scotland to be counted separately.) Lewis is notably popular in and around Cardiff where an estimated one in about 70 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Bristol, Birmingham and Coventry are other Lewis strongholds. Around the world Lewis’s are most common in Sydney (one in 701 families), Melbourne (one in 761) and Capetown (one in 915). The United States has more Lewis’s than the entire population of Sunderland-an estimated total of just under 520,000 makes this their 20th most popular surname.