Iowarch

Recorded as Iorweth, Iowarch, Yorath, Yerworth, Yereuarth, and even Yarwood, and with a further seventy other recorded spelling forms in the last seven hundred years, this is a name of early Welsh and Olde English origins. It is understood to mean the son of Ifor or Ivor, but this seems to be by no means clear, indeed it is not clear as what was or should be the original spelling! What we do know is that as Iowarch for instance, it is first recorded in the joint registers of the counties of Cheshire and Flint for Michaelmas in the year 1361-1362 when one Eign ap Lowarch or Ian, the son of Iowarch, is recorded as being buried at "Flynt". The dictionaries specialising in the origins of Welsh surnames indicate that this form of spelling as Iorwerth or Iowarch was gradually overtaken in the 15th century by a fusing of the patronymic ab or ap Iorweth to form Aberoth or eventually Borwarthe, as in Robert ap Barworth of Anglesey in 1615. Welsh surnames were amongst the last in Europe to become hereditary surnames, and even then did not become locked in their spelling until the 18th century, or about five hundred years after the rest of the British Isles