Owings History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Wales
Ireland

A product of the ancient Brythonic Celts of Wales, the name Owings, is from the Welsh personal name Owen or Owain. The Old Welsh forms of this name were Ouen and Ouein and were borrowed from the Latin name Eugenius. This is in turn derived from the Greek name Eugenios, which means well-born or noble. The name was recorded in Wales as early as 926 AD, when Uwen Wenta Cyning was noted.

Early Origins of the Owings family

The surname Owings was first found in Montgomeryshire (Welsh: Sir Drefaldwyn), located in mid-Eastern Wales, one of thirteen historic counties, and anciently the medieval kingdom of Powys Wenwynwyn, where they held a family seat from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 A.D.

From these early beginnings, the family reached throughout early England. "George Welsh Owen, Esq. of Tiverton in Devonshire, is impropriator of the great and small tithes, both of the [parish of Egloskerry] and Tremaine, [Cornwall] which belonged formerly to the priory of Launceston. In Egloskerry there are several estates, by which no small tithes are paid. From the tithes of this parish the sum of £5 per annum is paid to the incumbent curate, and sixteen shillings to the Prince of Wales's audit." 1

Early History of the Owings family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Owings research. Another 127 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1169, 1600, 1608, 1616, 1622, 1624, 1639, 1640, 1645, 1647, 1659, 1661, 1664, 1666, 1676, 1678, 1679, 1683, 1692, 1698, 1700 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Owings History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Owings Spelling Variations

The Welsh have an extremely large amount of spelling variations of their native surnames to their credit. It was up to the priest or the scribe taking the official records to determine how the spoken name was to be made literal. As time progressed, the old Brythonic names of Wales were recorded in English, which was especially problematic since the English language had extreme difficulty recording the highly inflected sounds of Cymraeg. Spelling variations were, however, also carried out according to an individual's design: a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even patriotic affiliations could be indicated by spelling variations of one's name. The spelling variations of the name Owings have included Owen, Owens, MacOwen, Owenson, Owenby, Ownby and others.

Early Notables of the Owings family

Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was Thomas Owen (died 1661), an English politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1624 and 1640, supporter of the Royalist cause in the English Civil War; Sir John Owen (1600-1666), a Welsh Royalist officer during the English Civil War; John Owen (1616-1683), an English Nonconformist church leader, theologian and administrator at the University of Oxford; Arthur Owen (ca.1608-1678), a Welsh politician who sat in...
Another 75 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Owings Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Owings Ranking

In the United States, the name Owings is the 5,655^th most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 2

Migration of the Owings family to Ireland

Some of the Owings family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 59 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Owings migration to the United States +

North America in the 1800s and 1900s saw the arrival of many Welsh people hoping to share in the wealth of land, work, and freedom that they felt North America held. Those who made the journey often attained those expectations, but only through an enormous amount of hard work, perseverance, and often a bout of good luck. These immigrants helped contribute to the growth of industry, commerce, and culture of both Canada and the United States. Discovered in the immigration and passenger lists were a number of people bearing the name Owings:

Owings Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Richard Owings, who settled in Maryland in 1659

Owings Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Margaret Owings, who arrived in Pennsylvania in 1776 3
William Owings, who settled in Mississippi in 1787

Owings Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Mr. M. R. D. Owings, aged 36, who immigrated to the United States, in 1906
Russell Owings, aged 22, who landed in America, in 1911
Harry P. Owings, aged 55, who landed in America, in 1913
Hattie E. Owings, aged 50, who immigrated to America, in 1913
James S. Owings, aged 21, who landed in America, in 1918
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Owings (post 1700) +

George W. Owings III (1945-2023), American Democratic Party politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates District 29-A, 1988-90 4
Wallace Owings, American politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates from Calvert County, 1880, 1894 4
Ulysses G. Owings, American politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates from Anne Arundel County, 1884 4
Theodore R. Owings, American Republican politician, Candidate for U.S. Representative from California 26th District, 1954 4
Robert Owings, American Democratic Party politician, Chair of Daviess County Democratic Party, 1949; Mayor of Gallatin, Missouri, 1965-67 4
Richard Owings, American politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates from Baltimore County, 1790 4
J. C. Owings, American Democratic Party politician, Alternate Delegate to Democratic National Convention from South Carolina, 1916 4
Irvin Owings, American politician, Mayor of Hyattsville, Maryland, 1925-27 4
Henry Owings, American politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates from Calvert County, 1870 4
Harry P. Owings, American politician, Member of Maryland State House of Delegates from Calvert County, 1888, eponym of Owings, Maryland 4
... (Another 7 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Hutchins, Fortescue, The History of Cornwall, from the Earliest Records and Traditions to the Present Time. London: William Penaluna, 1824. 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)
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 26) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html