What Does The Name Evans Mean?

The surname Evans is derived from the Welsh boy's name Evan. Evan itself is a more English spelling of a much older Welsh name, Ieuan. This is the original Welsh version of John; John is derived from an ancient Hebrew name meaning "God is gracious." Other versions of this name in Welsh include Ifan and Iefan.

Evan can also be a Scottish name. In that case it is a version of the popular Scots name Euan (as in the actor Euan McGregor) . Euan is based on the old Gaelic name Eoghan. It may mean "born of the yew (tree") but this is not sure.

A number of given names have become surnames with a "s" added: Peters, Stevens and Johns are a few examples.

God is gracious

Evans is of Welsh origin. In its anglicised form the name means "son of Evan". Regarding its Welsh roots, it is a derivative of the name ifan, a cognate of John.

It is a misconception that the name Evans is a patronymic name. The name does refer to Evan-S, meaning son of John, however, in this case the name refers to the fact that many Welsh were late converts to Christianity and around the 3rd Century AD a huge evangelical conversion began. Converted followers took the name of Son of John (the Baptist), in reference to the John the Baptist as the baptiser of Jesus Christ and considered a cornerstone of Christian conversion. It is possible that later some did take it as being the son of their father called Evan (John), but the extended use of religious forenames being converted into surnames by the addition of "s" of Son (Jackson, Johnson etc) does not account for the huge popularity of this name in this part of the world (South Wales).

Were did evans come from