Tewdwr

Tewdwr is a Welsh masculine given name attested in medieval Welsh sources. It appears in genealogies and chronicles in several spellings, including Tewdwr, Teudwr and Teudor, with later records sometimes Anglicizing the name as Tudur or Tudor. The form used often depended on the scribe’s dialect or manuscript tradition, making the name appear in a range of handwritten variants.

The exact etymology of Tewdwr is not firmly established in modern scholarship. It is generally treated as a genuine Welsh personal name that is closely related to other medieval forms such as Tudur, and it may have functioned as a dynastic or genealogical name in noble families. The closest widely known English cognate is Tudor, which later became a common surname and a dynastic name in English history.

In historical usage, individuals named Tewdwr appear in Welsh genealogies and local chronicles, typically associated with noble lineages. However, surviving sources often provide limited biographical detail, and identifications can vary between manuscripts.

Today, Tewdwr is uncommon as a given name in Wales. The related form Tudur is more common in contemporary Welsh usage, and Tudor remains recognizable as an Anglicized form and as a surname derived from the Welsh name. The name is of particular interest to historians and scholars of Welsh onomastics.

See also: Tudur, Tudor, Welsh given names.