Rees
also Reece, Rhys
From Rhys — the name of the most consequential prince of 12th-century Wales.
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The seat of Rees
Seat vacantChief
No chief yet. The seat awaits its first claimant — be the first to stake your name to Rees.
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 Rees name mean?
From the Welsh Rhys — an ancient personal name meaning 'ardour' or 'rashness in war'. The patronymic 'ap Rhys' contracted to Price; the unprefixed Rhys, taken hereditarily and anglicised by Tudor scribes, gave Rees and Reece. Both names trace to the same root, and to one historical figure above all others — the Lord Rhys of Deheubarth.
The history of Rees
The Rees / Rhys name is anchored in the south-west, the country of the kingdom of Deheubarth. Density today is highest in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion — the historic core of the kingdom and the modern centre of Welsh-language daily speech.
The Lord Rhys — Rhys ap Gruffydd (1132–1197) — was the most consequential native ruler of 12th-century Wales. He held Dinefwr Castle, played the politics of the Angevin succession with greater skill than any of his contemporaries, was confirmed by Henry II as 'Justiciar of South Wales' in 1172, and at Cardigan Castle at Christmas 1176 hosted the first recorded Eisteddfod — a competitive gathering of bards and musicians from across Wales. The chair for poetry went to a man of Gwynedd; the chair for music went to a man of Deheubarth. The institution survived and is now the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
Modern bearers: Sir Geraint Howell Rees Williams of Rhondda — the actor Sir Anthony Hopkins is on his mother's Rees line; Jean Rhys (1890–1979), Dominica-born novelist of Welsh-Creole descent, took her literary name from the Rhys patronymic she had inherited.
Notable bearers of the Rees name
- Rhys ap Gruffydd, the Lord Rhys (1132–1197) — King of Deheubarth, host of the first Eisteddfod
- Jean Rhys (1890–1979) — novelist (Wide Sargasso Sea)
- Goronwy Rees (1909–1979) — historian and the last of the Cambridge Five circle
Stories of Rees
Frequently asked
What does the surname Rees mean?
Where does the Rees family come from?
Who are some famous Reeses?
Is Reece the same family as Rees?
Neighbouring clans
- JonesSon of John — and roughly one in twenty Welsh-descended people in the world.
- DaviesSon of David — born of the patron saint's name and densest in his own corner of Wales.
- EvansSon of John, by the Welsh road — the cousin name of Jones.
- ThomasThe fifth Welsh surname — son of Thomas, on the same Tudor-era road as Jones and Williams.