Offin meaning | Last name Offin origin

Variation of the Owen. A personal name in Wales. Most of our Owens are from that principality, but it is possible that a few may be of Saxon blood, for there is an Owine in Domesday of Yorkshire, and a still earlier Owine occurs in the Codex Diplomaticus. It is one of the most common of Welsh surnames.The commonness of Welsh patronymics has tended to a great confusion of the 'gentle' and the ‘simple' in Wales. There are thousands of Owens who bear that name simply because their grandfathers or perhaps their fathers bore it as a Christian name. In ancient families the patrynomic became a stationary family name about the times of Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth.

The Owens of Tedsmore Hall, Denbighshire, formerly of Llunllo, are descended from Howell Dha, and the Kings of South Wales, but the first of the family who wrote himself Owen, was Roland Owen, sheriff of Montgomeryshire in 1610. The Owens of Glynafon descend from Llywarch ap Bran, lord of Menai in Anglesea, founder of the second noble tribe of North Wales and Powys. The Owens of Orielton, county of Pembroke, Barts., spring from Hova ap Kundhelw, a nobleman of North Wales, who lived about the year 1130, and was one of the fifteen peers.

Offin is a variation of Owens. The son of Owen meaning "wellborn".

The family name is form of Oven. If the O be long, the name may be a corruption of Oving, a parish in Sussex. Scholar Ferguson, however derives it from the Old Norse ovanr, inexperienced.