Powell (surname)

Powell is a surname. It is a patronymic form of the Welsh name Hywel (later Anglicized as Howell), with the prefix ap meaning "son of", together forming ap Hywel, or "son of Hywel".^[1] It is a common name among those of Welsh ancestry. It originates in a dynasty of kings in Wales and Brittany in the 9th and 10th century, and three Welsh royal houses of that time onwards. The House of Tudor, one of the Royal houses of England, also descended from them. ^{[citation needed]}