Why are all Welsh names French?

Question

Roberts, Williams, Davies, Jones... they're all French

Roberts is from the French "Robert", Jones comes from "Jean", Williams comes from "Guillaume", Davies comes from "David". They are all French names originally.

Answer 1

They are not French, but there is a hint of truth in what you say, as surnames were imposed on the Welsh by the Norman conquerers. Previously they would simply have their first name and be known as "ap" or "son of" their father. Rhys ap Iorwerth, for example. The Normans would not be able to get their tongue round a name such as Iorwerth, so would have bestowed the name "Edwards" on such a man. Similarly Huw ap Ioan would have ended up as Huw Jones, and so on. Clearly the names the Normans favoured were good Norman French type names.
http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1279868
http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/northwest/sites/familyhistory/pages/surnames.shtml

Answer 2

Well, you aren't even close to spelling the Welch names properly, so making a connection with French is difficult. Welch is a Celtic language and the Celts were pushed around by the invasion and events around 1066 when French became the language of the court, so making a connection might be a bit difficult.

Answer 3

They are all english or welsh.
Those names are english, roberts is only french if you say rowbear.
welsh names have alot of w's, l's and y's all jumbled up to make a word that sounds odd to english speakers.

Answer 4

i dont think so after all they don't even sound french not even spelt the same way as french stuff , i think you'll find that the first names are not french
they must just be similar
what about gruffudd thats not french!
neither is llwelyn

Answer 5

What about Finney? Does it at all sound French to you? Because I'm pretty sure that's a Welsh name.....Finney.....