Griffiths

also Gruffydd, ap Gruffydd, Griffith

Son of the strong lord, the patronymic of Llywelyn the Last.

Origin: Deheubarth, Wales
Famous bearer: Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Welsh hymn-writer of Dolwar Fach
Register: Welsh family

Territory of Griffiths

CoreHistoric reach

The seat of Griffiths

Seat vacant

Chief

No one leads the Griffiths community yet. When the movement opens, you can stand for its leadership, or help elect whoever does.

Current mission

No shared goal set yet. Once Griffiths has leadership, it sets the public focus: a restoration, a gathering, a real-world project that helps its own.

The Griffiths clan is being rebuilt. Join the waiting list for the movement today, and you help decide who leads it and what it does.

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What does the Griffiths name mean?

From ap Gruffydd, son of Gruffydd, the personal name borne by Llywelyn the Last (Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last sovereign Prince of Wales) and by the family of Owain Glyndŵr. The genitive 's' of Tudor surname compression turned ap Gruffydd into Griffiths and the southern variant Griffith. The personal name itself derives from Old Welsh Gruffudd ('strong lord'), one of the most resonant princely names of mediaeval Wales.

The history of Griffiths

Gruffydd was the personal name of three sovereign princes of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Cynan (1055–1137), Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (d. 1244), and the family of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd, the last sovereign Prince of Wales who fell at Cilmeri in 1282. Through the high Middle Ages it was among the most prestigious personal names in Welsh use, carried especially in Gwynedd and across the Welsh borderlands. The patronymic ap Gruffydd compressed under Tudor naming policy into Griffiths (and the southern variant Griffith) and is among the densest Welsh surnames today, carried particularly heavily in Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and across the Welsh diaspora.

Trevor Griffiths (b. 1935), the Manchester-born playwright of Welsh-Lancastrian descent, wrote Comedians and the screenplay for Reds. Terry Griffiths (b. 1947), the Llanelli snooker player, won the World Snooker Championship in 1979, only the second qualifier ever to do so. Andy Griffiths (b. 1961), the Australian children's author of the Treehouse series, descends from a Welsh-South-Wales emigrant Griffiths line that settled in Melbourne in the 1850s gold rush.

Champions of the Griffiths name

The bearers whose lives are inseparable from this surname. Each has its own page — biography, achievements, geography, connection to the family.

Ann Griffiths
The Montgomeryshire farmer's daughter whose seventy-four hymns, composed at the hearth at Dolwar Fach between 1802 and her death in 1805 and preserved by the family servant Ruth Hughes, are at the centre of the Welsh-language hymn tradition.

Step Into History

Walk the streets and seats the Griffiths name knew — a photoreal walk through time, on foot.

Step Into History · New

Walk Caernarfon in 1320Enter →

Edward I's walled bastide and mighty castle in North Wales, a generation after the conquest — the banded towers still rising.

Step Into History · New

Walk Harlech Castle in 1404Enter →

Owain Glyndŵr's mountain fortress and court at the high tide of Welsh independence, the English siege lines gathering below.

Notable bearers of the Griffiths name

Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Welsh hymn-writer of Dolwar Fach
Trevor Griffiths (b. 1935), playwright (Comedians; the Reds screenplay)
Terry Griffiths (b. 1947), World Snooker Champion 1979
Andy Griffiths (b. 1961), Australian children's author (the Treehouse series)

Stories of Griffiths

Ann Griffiths and the hymns of Dolwar Fach
1800
Between her Methodist conversion at Bala in the spring of 1796 and her death in childbed at Dolwar Fach on the twelfth of August 1805, Ann Thomas, married 1804 to Thomas Griffiths and known to Welsh-Methodist history as Ann Griffiths, wrote about seventy-four Welsh-language hymns in a burst of mystical-religious lyric composition that is, by every careful judgment of Welsh-language literary historians (Saunders Lewis, R. M. Jones), the foundational lyric-mystical achievement of the Welsh Methodist revival and one of the finest women's-poetic voices in any European language between Hildegard of Bingen and Emily Dickinson. Ann Griffiths could not, on the Welsh-Calvinistic-Methodist women's-pastoral practice of the 1800s, write down her hymns or have them published in her lifetime; she committed each new hymn to the memory of her servant Ruth Evans on the evening of composition. After Ann's death at twenty-nine, Ruth Evans dictated the seventy-four hymns from memory over the next twelve months to the Bala Methodist minister John Hughes (Pontrobert), who wrote them down. The collection was first printed in Welsh in 1806 in the Methodist hymn-book Casgliad o Hymnau of Robert Jones of Rhos-lan, with the eight Ann Griffiths hymns Hughes had transcribed. The rest were printed in successive editions of the Welsh-Methodist hymn-books over the next forty years.
Read the story →

Frequently asked

What does the surname Griffiths mean?

Where does the Griffiths family come from?

The Griffiths family is rooted in Deheubarth and Gwynedd, in Wales. Within that, the name was particularly concentrated in Sir Benfro, Sir Gâr and Eryri & Llŷn. The atlas page for the name records the historical territory it has held over the centuries.

Where did the Griffiths family historically hold territory?

At its greatest historical extent, the Griffiths name has been concentrated in Dyffryn Clwyd, Tegeingl, Powys and Ceredigion. The atlas page distinguishes the core territory of the name from this wider historical reach with hatched silhouettes on the map.

Is Griffiths a Wales surname?

Yes, Griffiths is a Wales surname. Its editorial home in this atlas is Wales, where the historical territory and family record of the name are concentrated.

How old is the Griffiths surname?

Gruffydd was the personal name of three sovereign princes of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Cynan (1055–1137), Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (d. European hereditary surnames crystallised broadly between the 12th and 14th centuries, and the Griffiths name took its modern form within that long settlement.

What is the Griffiths family known for?

Son of the strong lord, the patronymic of Llywelyn the Last. Gruffydd was the personal name of three sovereign princes of Gwynedd, Gruffydd ap Cynan (1055–1137), Gruffydd ap Llywelyn ap Iorwerth (d.

Who is the most famous Griffiths?

The best-known bearer of the Griffiths name is Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Welsh hymn-writer of Dolwar Fach. Other prominent figures of the family include Trevor Griffiths (b. 1935), playwright (Comedians; the Reds screenplay), Terry Griffiths (b. 1947), World Snooker Champion 1979 and Andy Griffiths (b. 1961), Australian children's author (the Treehouse series).

Who are some famous Griffithses?

Notable bearers of the Griffiths name include Ann Griffiths (1776–1805), Welsh hymn-writer of Dolwar Fach, Trevor Griffiths (b. 1935), playwright (Comedians; the Reds screenplay), Terry Griffiths (b. 1947), World Snooker Champion 1979 and Andy Griffiths (b. 1961), Australian children's author (the Treehouse series). Each is profiled on the family page, with cross-links to the geography, stories, and historical events tied to their life.

What stories are told about the Griffiths family?

The Griffiths family is associated with Ann Griffiths and the hymns of Dolwar Fach. Each story has its own page on this site with the full account, the date, the location, and the other families involved.

What is the story of Ann Griffiths and the hymns of Dolwar Fach?

Between her Methodist conversion at Bala in the spring of 1796 and her death in childbed at Dolwar Fach on the twelfth of August 1805, Ann Thomas, married 1804 to Thomas Griffiths and known to Welsh-Methodist history as Ann Griffiths, wrote about seventy-four Welsh-language hymns in a burst of mystical-religious lyric composition that is, by every careful judgment of Welsh-language literary historians (Saunders Lewis, R. M. The event is dated to 1800.

Is Gruffydd the same family as Griffiths?

Yes. Gruffydd is a historical spelling variant of the Griffiths name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Is ap Gruffydd the same family as Griffiths?

Yes. ap Gruffydd is a historical spelling variant of the Griffiths name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Is Griffith the same family as Griffiths?

Yes. Griffith is a historical spelling variant of the Griffiths name. The two share the same lineage and family affiliation; different parishes, clerks and migration registrars recorded the same name in slightly different forms, and the variant spellings sit on the same family tree.

Where is the Griffiths surname found today?

Wales is the primary historical home of the Griffiths surname. In the modern era, the name is also borne across the wider diaspora, particularly in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, where families carry the line of descent from the same Wales origin recorded on this page.

What does the Clan Rising page for the Griffiths family cover?

The Clan Rising page for the Griffiths family covers the meaning of the surname, the historical geography of the name, famous bearers of the name, traditional stories and the seat of the head of the family. Each section is linked to the underlying atlas of Wales so the name can be read in the geography that shaped it.

Who is the head of the Griffiths family today?

The seat for the head of the Griffiths family is currently vacant on this register. Clan Rising is rebuilding the chief and family structure for the modern era, and the family page allows readers to claim the seat or pledge to the name.