Lloyd (name)

The name Lloyd/Llwyd originates with the Welsh adjective , usually understood to mean 'grey' and which can be distinguished as a "fixed epithet" passed on from one generation to the next, as early as the 14th century. However, the word also has other meanings, especially if buttressed with other nouns or adjectives, such as ('grey-headed') and ('grey-white'). In addition to "grey" as most commonly understood, also includes shades of brown, according to T.J. Morgan and Prys Morgan. Lloyd as a boy's name is pronounced . It is of Welsh origin, and the meaning of Lloyd is 'grey', from Llwyd. The name may originally allude to experience and wisdom, and probably denoted a person entitled to respect. By the time that the adjective became a fixed epithet and then a family name, had more or less lost its original meaning of "grey". T. J. and Prys Morgan note: As an adjective, also held the meaning or connotation of 'holy' during the medieval period, affecting characteristic adjective lenition. A medieval Welsh scribe or a scribe familiar with the Welsh language would understand that the usage of the mutated form of , and was employed to convey the sense of "holiness". Therefore, as a surname Llwyd/Lloyd "retains the radical consonant after the persona name, masc. and fem alike". The Anglo-Norman scribe would not be familiar enough with medieval Welsh orthography to know that ll was used for the voiceless alveolar lateral fricative and generally used l for the initial ll and its lenited version, single l except that occasionally attempts were made to show that the sound was l with a difference. ==Variations==

Variations most often encountered illustrate the degree to which Anglo-Norman and later English scribes sought to render the sounds unfamiliar to their own diction. The voiceless "unilateral hiss" was often rendered as thl or ffl, or left with a single l. Another challenge was with the Welsh diphthong wy ([ʊi] or [ʊɨ] approximately as in the word "gooey" pronounced as one syllable) which was rendered by the closest English approximation oy. Most modern variations of Lloyd/Llwyd originate in the Tudor period, and are largely "corruptions" of llwyd. Variations include: Floyd, Flewett, Flewitt, Flood, Floed, Floyde, Flowitt, Flude, Fludd, Fludde, Flude, Fluett, Fluat, Flyd, Flyde, Lide, Lhuyd, Loud, Loulld, Luyd, Llowyde, Llowyd, Lloyed, Lloilld, Llwyed, Thoyd, Thloyd, and Thllewyd. Lloyd has become the most common form of the name in all parts of Wales today, and with the double-L pronounced as a single-L (without the voiceless, "unilateral hiss"), and the use of a single-L in the spelling is rare. The "more correct" spelling (or the spelling more closely matching the Welsh ) Llwyd had long ceased to be used as a version of the name until fairly recently, "as Lloyd has been deliberately changed to Llwyd in a number of cases in our own time". ==See also==