Note 5 — Chapter I · PATRONYMIC SURNAMES.
Reading edition
‘Howel’ or ‘Hoel’ was at one time a favourite Welsh baptismal name. We have a ‘Howel le Waleys,’ that is, ‘Howel the Welshman,’ or, as we should now say, ‘Howell Wallace,’ mentioned in the Parliamentary writs of 1313. As I shall show by-and-by, our ‘Powells’ may in some cases, at least, be of more English origin.