Explore the Family Name Ewen

The meaning of Ewen

1. Scottish and English: from the Scottish personal name Ewen, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Eòghan (Old Irish Eógan), sometimes rendered into Latin as Eugenius, from Greek eugenēs ‘well-born’. The Gaelic name, however, means ‘born of the yew-tree’ (Old Irish eó). See McEwen. 2. English and Welsh: from the Old and Anglo-Norman French personal name Iwain, Breton Iven, Even, a borrowing of Welsh Owain, Ewein, Ywein, ultimately derived from Latin Eugenius ‘well born’ (compare Owen). In Herefordshire and Lincolnshire the personal name was borne by men of Breton descent. Its medieval popularity may have been enhanced by the heroic figure of Ywain in the 12th-century. History of the Kings of Britain by Geoffrey of Monmouth, who subsequently appeared as one of King Arthur’s knights in Arthurian romances. The character derived from a 6th-century historical person, Owain mab Urien. 3. German and East Frisian: patronymic from Evo, a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name formed with ēwe ‘law, contract’, later ‘marriage’. 4. Jewish (Israeli): from Hebrew even ‘stone’, a translation of the surname Stein or any of its compounds.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.