[David Powell]

Originally Posted by Robert Palmer

Hi David - Just a little bit of obscure Welsh history for you and for others who read your post. I am sending this as a Welshman myself although I now live in Felixstowe, Suffolk (UK). For those of you who don't know, Wales is a principlaity of the UK and is attached to England on the left hand side (near Ireland and nearest the USA). Oh - and one piece of advice - never call a Welshman English, whatever his accent!

The reason Powell is a common name in Wales, along with Evans, Morgan, Williams etc, is historical. Hundreds of years ago (not sure when), as teh population of the UK grew (before it was actually the UK, incidentally), some King or other decided that, in order to ensure that people were readily identifiable, introduced the concept of the surname, insisting that all his subjects take a second name. Thus the son of Richard became RIchardson etc. Some English took their profession as a surname (Baker, Miller, Butcher etc) and the whole thing ran along very smoothly.

Except in Wales.

Now the Welsh have long considered the English to be an invading force and, at this point in history, the emotions ran a lot higher. The English had even banned the Welsh language (which is only now making a comeback - I can't speak it but my nephews and neices can). The Welsh remain at least a little suspicious of the English even today. Now, in response to the King's requirement to take a second name, whole villages, outraged at the demands of this unwelcome interloper, all took the same name! So, the 'State' had 1000s of Morgan's, Evans', Williams and, clearly, Powell's. Thus, the Welsh gave the King of England the proverbial finger in a BIG way! I guess thats what you call passive resistance!

These events still have wide consequences today as there are dozens of branches of each family name that have absolutely no genetic connection whatsoever. So you can't assume that anyone called Evans is even remotely related to anyone else called Evans.

Anyway, hope that story amuses you as much as it does me - now I'll go and get a life....

What a wonderful story, Robert. Hundreds of years later, the BIG finger at the system persists! Passive Resistance be thy NAME! Poot thot into yer google pipe and smook it, yer TIA igots! And a good Welsh heritage indeed! A Powell I will be by Saint David! Until the death and taxes have been forgotten (in that order preferably). And think of it;- to this day, it is so easy to find a David Powell, compared to how hard it is to know which one you have found. I'm so amused by the story that there must be a bit Welsh in the blood for sure;- while which Welsh we can only wonder. So I am aptly named. A no-one born of a certain rebellious nature while of uncertain identity. I think there must be a virtual hoard of David Powells laughing at the uncommon good fortune of having an all too common name. Who, me? Are you sure it wasn't him? Or perhaps him?