The old Welsh surname Faulks comes from the popular personal name Fulk. This forename of Norman origin originally came from one of a number of Germanic personal names with the first portion "folk-," which means "people."
The surname Faulks was first found in Denbighshire (Welsh: Sir Ddinbych), a historic county in Northeast Wales, created by the Laws in Wales Act 1536, where they held a family seat at "Yr Eifiad" from very ancient times, some say before the 9th century.
Another source notes "the pedigree is deduced from Marchudd ap Cynan, lord of Brynffenigi, who flourished in the ninth century. The name appears to have been borrowed from Ffoulk ap Thomas, who lived early in the sixteenth century, and whose descendants have ever since borne it." [1] And that "an early form of a capital F was ff." [2]
Sir Martin Browne ffolkes, 1st Baronet, FRS (1749-1821) was an English Baronet and Member of Parliament. Son of William Folkes, he chose to revert his name back to the ffolkes spelling to better note his heritage. The Baronetcy continues to today using the same spelling with Sir Robert Francis Alexander ffolkes, 7th Baronet (born 1943.)
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Faulks research. Another 92 words (7 lines of text) covering the years 1290, 1691, 1660, 1661, 1676, 1747, 1679, 1678 and 1678 are included under the topic Early Faulks History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Although there are not an extremely large number Welsh surnames, there are an inordinately large number of spelling variations of those surnames. This variety of spellings began almost immediately after the acceptance of surnames within Welsh society. As time progressed, these old Brythonic names were eventually were recorded in English. This process was problematic in that many of the highly inflected sounds of the native language of Wales could not be properly captured in English. Some families, however, did decide to modify their own names to indicate a branch loyalty within the family, a religious adherence, or even a patriotic affiliation. The name Faulks has seen various spelling variations: Foulke, Foulks, Foulkes and others.
Prominent amongst the family during the late Middle Ages was William Foulkes (died 1691), a Welsh cleric and writer, Rector of Cwm in Denbighshire in 1660, of Llanfyllin and of Llanbrynmair in 1661, positions he held until his death.
Peter Foulkes (1676-1747), was a scholar and divine, was the third son of Robert Foulkes of Llechryd, Denbighshire, deputy Baron of the court of exchequer of Chester. [3]
On the infamous side...
Another 68 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Faulks Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
In the United States, the name Faulks is the 17,778th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. [4]