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A patronymic name from Ieuan, the Welsh form of John.  There are several early references to Iuean in Welsh history, starting with St. Ieuan in the 6th century. 

Select Evans Resources on The Internet

• Evans Family Records.  Evans family and names in the UK and America.
• Evans Families of Carmarthenshire.  Evans family history.
• Evans in Wolverhampton.  An Evans family history.
• Evans Family History.  Evans immigrants to America.

Wales.  Evans as a surname dates from the early 1500's.  The first reference was to a John Yevans in the 1533 Monmouth records.   The name appeared in both north and south Wales:

• Richard Evans was rector at Llanaelhaiarn in Anglesey in the early 1600's.  His grandson became sheriff of Carnarvonshire in 1635. 
• Evan Evans settled in Llanfihangel, Montgomeryshire around 1670.
• while the Evans family of Eaglesbush in the Neath valley, later coalmine owners, can be traced there back to the 17th century.
  

England.  By the 19th century, Evans remained very much a Welsh surname.  However, there had been some spillover into English counties, in particular in Shropshire, Staffordshire and Lancashire.  Thomas Evans of Darley in Derbyshire was a prominent early industrialist.  His son Walter built a cotton mill in the vullage in 1783 and the family - who came to own Alliestree Hall - became local gentry and MP's.

America.  Early Welsh immigrants, many of them Quakers, headed for Pennsylvania where there was religious toleration.  In 1698 the sons of Evan Robert Lewis were Evans who helped found the Welsh tract near Philadelphia which they called Gwynnedd.  Cadwaladr Evans was a prominent early Quaker there (and a great great grandfather to Abraham Lincoln).  A century later Oliver Evans, the son of Welsh immigrants, was an early American inventor and industrialist.  He pioneered in Philadelphia an automated grist mill for flour and an early steam engine. 

Theophilius Evans was the fiirst historian of the Welsh, with his book Mirror The First Age written in Welsh in 1716.
John Evans was the Welsh explorer who produced an early map of the Missouri river.
Mary Ann Evans was the Victorian author of novels such as The Mill on the Floss, who wrote under the name of George Eliot.
Godfrey Evans played for the English cricket team as wicketkeeper during the 1940's and 1950's.
Bill Evans was one of the most influential jazz pianists of the 20th century.
Harold Evans was a well-known British journalist and newspaper editor.