Owen
also Owens
The princely name — Owain in Welsh, the surname of the last revolt and the first Tudor.
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CoreHistoric reach
The seat of Owen
Seat vacantChief
No chief yet. The seat awaits its first claimant — be the first to stake your name to Owen.
Current mission
No mission proclaimed. The chief, once seated, sets the clan’s public focus — a campaign, a contest, a piece of restoration, a year of remembrance.
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Stake your name →What does the Owen name mean?
From the Welsh Owain — a name borne by a long line of native princes including Owain Gwynedd (d.1170), Owain ap Gruffudd (Owain the Red Hand, d.1378), Owain Glyndŵr (d.c.1415) and Owain ap Maredudd ap Tudur (Owen Tudor, d.1461). The surname is the patronymic 'ap Owain' stripped of the prefix; the variant Owens carried the genitive 's' typical of the Tudor administrative compression.
The history of Owen
Owen is the surname descended from the most consequential personal name in medieval Welsh history. Three Owains held princely power in Wales between 1100 and 1415 — Owain Gwynedd, Owain Lawgoch, and Owain Glyndŵr — and a fourth, Owen Tudor, founded the dynasty that would inherit the English crown in 1485.
The surname is concentrated in north and mid-Wales. Wilfred Owen (1893–1918), born at Oswestry on the English border to a family of Welsh descent, wrote the defining English-language poetry of the First World War in the eighteen months before his death at the Sambre–Oise Canal one week before the Armistice. Robert Owen (1771–1858) of Newtown was the founder of British socialism and of the cooperative movement, and the shaper of New Lanark, the model industrial community in Scotland.
The Tudor branch of the Owen line — through Owen Tudor, who married Catherine of Valois, widow of Henry V — produced Henry VII, the last Welshman to take the throne of a unified Britain. That story is told under House of Tudor.
Notable bearers of the Owen name
- Wilfred Owen (1893–1918) — war poet
- Robert Owen (1771–1858) — founder of British socialism, of New Lanark
- Owen Glendower / Owain Glyndŵr (c.1359–c.1415) — last native Prince of Wales
Frequently asked
What does the surname Owen mean?
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Neighbouring clans
- WilliamsSon of William — second only to Jones in Welsh density, and first in the north.
- EvansSon of John, by the Welsh road — the cousin name of Jones.
- RobertsStrong in the north — the patronymic of Robert, second to Williams in Caernarfonshire.
- LewisLlywelyn anglicised — a princely name carried into common use across the Marches and the south.