Ralph Family - Welch Origin, Olive Skin?
This is the first time that I've ever visited this site. What a strange feeling it was to see people with the same last name describing your own characteristics. The Ralph side of my family came from Wales while the other Boyd side of the family is Scottish. Some of us are olive (dark) in complexion (me included) while others are more fair. This olive complexion often results in being mistaken as Portugese or Spanish. The story of the shipwrecked Spaniards from the Spanish Armada is an interesting theory but can any credit be given to it?
In research that I have looked into previously, I understand that the name is Saxon-Germanic in origin and may have originally meant "wolf-council". Interesting indeed.
As a former graduate student in Roman British archaeology I've often wondered if the olive complexion goes even further back than the 16th century AD. Here's a thought that I've had although it's unlikely to be the case:
Is it possible that as the province of Roman Britain was abandoned to its own devices by the Roman Army after the 410 AD, the influx of Saxon invaders and inter-marriage with local Celtic inhabitants drove the Roman inhabitants of Britain into to what is now Wales? This area was already well settled by the Romans with numerous outposts, forts and port cities. With the ready defense that the landscape of Wales provides, there has been much discussion among scholars that the original Roman and Celtic population could have migrated and fortified themselves in this area on ancient Britain.
While this is probably not something that can be proved. It would be interesting to think that the olive skin of the Welch dates back almost two milennia.
dbr
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Re: Ralph Family - Welch Origin, Olive Skin?
Rhomer Johnson 9/04/04