The Christian name Dewis appears a lot in our family, but I’ve often
wondered about its origin. After some investigation, this is the best
explanation that I can come up with.
My grandfather Dewis Wilson was not the first Dewis in the Wilson
family. His grandfather was also called Dewis and his father Matthew had
a brother called Dewis.
Although these two always appeared in census records as Dewis, they were
registered at birth as D’Ewes.
The name Dewis was not just confined to our family. Nottinghamshire
parish records show the name was used by other families and the spelling
varied, including Dewis D’Ewes and Dewes. (It is not unusual for
spellings to vary in those days due to the low literacy levels.)
A possible clue to the origin of the name is that it was originally
spelt D’Ewes.
This name can be traced back to the Coke family in Pinxton. They were a
rich family and for many years, the rector of Pinxton and South
Normanton was the Rev D’Ewes Coke. His grandfather was also a D’Ewes
Coke and the name originated from his mother. Her name before she
married was Elizabeth D’Ewes. She wanted to have her family name
remembered, so she used it as a Christian name for her son. This is the
most likely explanation for it becoming a Christian name.
The D’Ewes family came from Suffolk. The most successful member of this
family was Sir Symonds D'Ewes who was knighted and made a baronet.
There is no connection between our family and either the Coke family or
the D’Ewes family. However, the Rev D’Ewes Coke was also a mine owner,
so would be well known to the mining community of the area. It is quite
likely that mining families, if they liked the name, would use it to
name one of their sons.