Although I have not been able to confirm this, it is probable that my surname originated from the patronymic system of naming people, i.e. John son of Henry or Catherine daughter of Alfred. It was not unknown for Welsh people to be able to recite up to 11 generations of Ancestors in this way, which shows that they placed great importance on their ancestry.
In Welsh mab or map means 'son of', and the use of one form or the other should depend on whether the name after mab or map begins with a vowel or a consonant, however people were not always consistent in the usage. Forenames beginning with a consonant, such as Rosser, were generally preceded by map, or the short form ap, and in time map Rosser or ap Rosser became shortened to Prosser. In the same way mab or ab Owen would have changed into Bowen. I believe that my surname may have derived from Yner or Ynyr but instead of people saying mab Yner, (which could have mutated to Bonner), they used map Yner which became Pyner.
I have found one reference to people with the name 'ap Yner' in the archives of Gwynedd Council. It is in a document recording transactions at the Quarter Sessions in Caernarvonshire in 1588 which can be found in series XQS on the council web site. This relates to a list of recognizances for breaches of the peace involving
Hugh ap Robert ap Yner, Elizabeth [verch Ro]bert Yner, --r ap Robert ap Yner and Hugh ap Richard ap Yner. In most of the cases the ap Yners were recorded as providing sureties but one seems to have required Elizabeth verch Robert ap Yner to keep the peace towards another party.There are a few references on the web to ap Ynyr which may be related to Poyner, (one of the variants I have found of the name Pyner), and which may have come from the French poigneur meaning fighter, (one good with his fists). Many of the references to ap Ynyr are around the 10th Century or earlier, eg Tudur Trefor Ap Ynyr who was born about 901AD, and are from the Dolgellau area, although there is one from Abergavenny as well.
This could be a dweller at a pine tree, or it could refer to an occupation of piner, which was a labourer.
This could be 'dweller at a hill'.
Variant of Dugan - 'of dark complexion', from the Celtic.
This could be a variant of Hardwick which means herd place.
I have been advised that the name is probably of Huguenot origin, and may be a Flemish name from Flanders in Belgium. This seems more likely than my suggestion above.
A variant of Pantin, Panetin, Pannet(t), Pagnell or Pannell - from the French for a dancing Jack or puppet, (panetin); or from Pagan meaning heathen.
More variants of the patronymic system but this time the 's' at the end of the name means 'son of'.
This comes from the Welsh adjective bychan, meaning younger, which mutated into fychan, and may have been used to distinguish between father and son. Fychan changed into vychan in English since the Welsh pronounce the letter 'f' as in the word 'of' and the letter 'y' should have been pronounced as the English pronounce 'u'. The 'ch' sound would also have been changed to the gutteral 'gh' before becoming silent.
The Surnames of Wales by John & Sheila Rowlands published by Federation of Family History Societies (Publications) Ltd in 1996. This is now out of print.
Surnames of the United Kingdom by Henry Harrison, 1912.
