LEWIS. Tlie Welsh jiersonal name, the same as the Fr. Louis. Also one of the Hebrides. Many of the Welsh families conceal beneath this common, aud usually plebeian name, blood and pedigree of remote antiquity. For example, Lewis of Greenmeadow springs from Gwaethvoed, descended from the ancient princes of Britain, aud a contemporary of the A-Sax. king Edgar. Lewis of Gilfach claims from Cradoc ajD 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.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.