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Tudor History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

United States Canada Australia New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Historic Events Related Stories Citations

Tudor History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Wales

The Welsh name Tudor comes from the personal name Tudur, an ancient Celtic name of unknown meaning. It is thought that the name, especially the form Tewdwr, may have also emerged as a Welsh version of the Latin Theodorus.

Early Origins of the Tudor family

The surname Tudor was first found in Herefordshire, where Tudor Trevor was Lord of Hereford, Whittington, and both Maelors. He was founder of the Tribe of the Marches, born in Denbigh, son of Ynyr Ap Cadforch, whose descendants intermarried with the distinguished families of North Wales.

Theodore (602?-690), was Archbishop of Canterbury, a native of Tarsus in Cilicia. "He studied at Athens, had a scholarly knowledge of Greek and Latin, and was well versed in sacred and profane literature and in philosophy, which caused him to receive the surname 'Philosopher.' At the time of Theodore's arrival the English church lacked order, administrative organisation, discipline, and culture. " 1

Early History of the Tudor family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Tudor research. Another 82 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1400, 1401, 1406, 1411, 1485, 1486, 1499, 1500, 1502 and 1503 are included under the topic Early Tudor History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Tudor Spelling Variations

Welsh surnames are relatively few in number, but they have an inordinately large number of spelling variations. There are many factors that explain the preponderance of Welsh variants, but the earliest is found during the Middle Ages when Welsh surnames came into use. Scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded, which often resulted in a single person's name being inconsistently recorded over his lifetime. The transliteration of Welsh names into English also accounts for many of the spelling variations: the unique Brythonic Celtic language of the Welsh had many sounds the English language was incapable of accurately reproducing. It was also common for members of a same surname to change their names slightly, in order to signify a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations. For all of these reasons, the many spelling variations of particular Welsh names are very important. The surname Tudor has occasionally been spelled Tudor, Tudyr Tuder, Tudar and others.

Early Notables of the Tudor family

Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was

Maredydd ap Tudur (Meredith Tudor) (died 1406), Welsh soldier and nobleman from the Tudor family of Penmynydd and Owen Tudor's father, supported the 1400 Welsh uprising of his first cousin Owain Glynd...
Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (1486-1502) was the first son of King Henry VII of England and Elizabeth of York, he died before his father, when Henry VII died, Arthur's younger brother, Henry, became...
Sir Owen Tudor
Katherine Tudor (1503-1503), died shortly after her birth, was the eighth and last child of King Henry VII of England and Queen Elizabeth of York, and Elizabeth succumbed to a post-pregnancy infection...

Tudor Ranking

In the United States, the name Tudor is the 5,044^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 2

Tudor migration to the United States +

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many people from Wales joined the general migration to North America in search of land, work, and freedom. These immigrants greatly contributed to the rapid development of the new nations of Canada and the United States. They also added a rich and lasting cultural heritage to their newly adopted societies. Investigation of immigration and passenger lists has revealed a number of people bearing the name Tudor:

Tudor Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Lewis Tudor, who settled in New England in 1654
Owen Tudor, who arrived in Maryland in 1677 3

Tudor Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Z Tudor, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1850 3
C. Tudor, aged 30, who immigrated to America, in 1897

Tudor Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Bella Tudor, aged 32, who settled in America from Glasgow, in 1905
Albert Edward Tudor, aged 31, who immigrated to America from Wrexham, in 1905
Bella Tudor, aged 28, who immigrated to the United States from Greenock, Scotland, in 1907
Benjamin Tudor, aged 15, who landed in America from Stoke on Trent, England, in 1907
Amelia Tudor, aged 10, who settled in America from Stoke on Trent, England, in 1907
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Tudor migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Tudor Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Mary Tudor, who landed in Nova Scotia in 1750

Tudor migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Tudor Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Robert Tudor, English convict who was convicted in Shropshire, England for life, transported aboard the "Eden" on 8th July 1840, arriving in New South Wales, Australia 4

Tudor migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Tudor Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Mr. David Tudor, (b. 1835), aged 35, British settler travelling from London aboard the ship "Zealandia" arriving in Lyttelton, Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand on 23rd December 1870 5
Mr. James Tudor, (b. 1848), aged 25, Welsh collier from Glamorgan travelling from Gravesend aboard the ship "Surat" going to Dunedin, Otago, South Island, New Zealand in 1873, the ship sunk at the Catlins River all the passengers were transported to Dunedin via various rescure vessels 5

Tudor migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 6

Tudor Settlers in West Indies in the 17th Century

Richard Tudor and his wife Mary, two children and servants, settled in Barbados in 1678

Contemporary Notables of the name Tudor (post 1700) +

Tasha Tudor (1915-2008), American illustrator and author of children's books, Caldecott Honors winner for Mother Goose in 1945
William Tudor (1779-1830), American co-founder of the North American Review and the Boston Athenaeum
William Tudor (1750-1819), American wealthy lawyer of Boston, father of Frederic Tudor
Frederic Tudor (1783-1864), American businessman, known as Boston's "Ice King", founder of the Tudor Ice Company
John Thomas Tudor (b. 1954), American left-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball
David Eugene Tudor (1926-1996), American pianist and composer of experimental music
Ronald Stewart "Ron" Tudor MBE (1924-2020), Australian music producer, engineer, label owner and record industry executive
Gheorghe Martin Tudor (1976-2020), Romanian footballer who played as a goalkeeper
Mr. Jeffrey Tudor O.B.E., British Policy Co-ordinator at Department for International Development Burma, was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 29th December 2018 for services to International Development 7
Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Hugh Tudor KCB CMG (1871-1965), British junior officer in the Second Boer War (1899-1902), and senior officer in the First World War (1914-1918)
... (Another 6 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Historic Events for the Tudor family +

HMS Prince of Wales

Mr. Alfred Tudor, British Able Seaman, who sailed into battle on the HMS Prince of Wales (1941) and survived the sinking 8

Senghenydd colliery

Mr. Alfred Rees Tudor (b. 1899), Welsh coal miner from Senghenydd, Caerphilly, Wales who was working at the Senghenydd colliery when there was an explosion on the 14th October 1913; he died

Citations +

Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 20th October 2021). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/eden
New Zealand Yesteryears Passenger Lists 1800 to 1900 (Retrieved 26th March 2019). Retrieved from http://www.yesteryears.co.nz/shipping/passlist.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies
"Birthday and New Year Honours Lists (1940 to 2019)." Issue 62507, 28 December 2018 | London Gazette, The Gazette, Dec. 2018, www.thegazette.co.uk/honours-lists
HMS Prince of Wales Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listprincecrew.html