Gruffudd

Gruffudd or Gruffydd ( or , in either case) is a Welsh name, originating in Old Welsh as a given name and today used as both a given and a surname. It is the origin of the Anglicised name Griffith[s], and was historically sometimes treated as interchangeable with the etymologically unrelated Germanic name Galfrid (Latinised as Galfridus). The Welsh form evolved from the Common Brittonic Grippiud or Gripuid. The meaning of the name is “strong lord.”

==Evolution and history== One of the oldest forms which gave rise to all other variations is Grippiud or Gripuid, which evolved into Old Welsh Griffudd. The second element of the name, iudd, as a noun has a meaning of 'lord' and is found in other Welsh names such as Meredith (Mared[i]udd) and Bleidd[i]udd. In North Wales Griffudd evolved into Gruffudd. “When u came to have the same quality as the clear y (the y of monosyllables and final syllables) the name generally became Gruffydd, and this is now regarded as the standard form,” according to T.J. Morgan and Prys Morgan. Gruffudd of Old Welsh became spelt as Gruffydd in Middle Welsh and Modern Welsh of today. The high central vowel sound of u/y was lost entirely in South Wales and replaced by the i sound, and the form Griffidd became standard in the south, the region to first be encountered by Anglo-Norman scribes.