# Welsh (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/welsh/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname for someone who was a Welshman or a Celt.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 30,153 |
| US rank (2010) | 1,166 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 10,239 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.2% (29,217 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈwɛlʃ/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | Welch |

## Etymology

From Middle English Walsch, Welische, from Anglian Old English wǣlisċ (“Briton; Roman; Celt”), from Proto-West Germanic *walhisk, from Proto-Germanic *walhiskaz (“Celt; later Roman”) (thus cognate with German welsch, Dutch Waals, Danish vælsk, Old Norse valskr), from *walhaz (“Celt, Roman”) (compare Old English wealh), from the name of the Gaulish tribe, the Volcae (recorded only in Latin contexts). This word was borrowed from Germanic into Slavic (compare Old Church Slavonic Влахъ (Vlaxŭ, “Vlachs, Romanians”), Medieval Greek Βλάχος (Blákhos)). Doublet of Vellish. Compare Walloon, walnut, Vlach, Walach, Gaul, Cornwall.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Welsh in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 91% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 3.3% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.7% |
| Two or more races | 1.6% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Welsh in the United States and Australia.

## People named Welsh

- Mary Welsh Hemingway, American journalist (1908–1986)
- Matt Welsh, Australian swimmer
- William Welsh, actor (1870-1946)
- Thomas Welsh, American basketball player (born 1996)
- Mikey Welsh, American musician and painter (1971-2011)
- Pat Welsh, American actress best known for voicing E.T. (1915-1995)
- Lilian Welsh, American physician, educator, and suffragist

## Similar surnames

Welch, Walsh, Walshe, Wells, Welsch, Welk, Welles, Wallace, Willis, Walls, Wills, Wiles.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.