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There appears to be both an English and Norman French origin for the surname Lewis.  The Old English leofwine, meaning "beloved friend," was one source.  Lodovicus was the founder of the Frankish dynasty and his name came over to England with the Normans. Over time these names became Lewis. 

Select Lewis Resources on The Internet

• Lewis Welsh Ancestry.  A Lewis letter.
• Lewis Legend.  John Lewis of Monmouthshire and Virginia.
• History of the Lewis Family.  Lewis families in America.
• Lewis Family.  John Lewis from Ireland to Virginia.
• The Lewis Family Story.  Lewises from Virginia to Texas.
• Lewis Surname DNA Project.  Lewis DNA.

Wales.  The English name Lewis would intertwine with the Welsh Llewelyn, often absorbing it as anglicization proceeded.  Thus the 15th century Welsh bard was sometimes called Llewellyn Glyn and sometimes Lewis Glyn. Thomas ap Lewis was killed at the battle of Banbury in 1469 and his son, a landowner in Monmouthshire, was the first to adopt Lewis as a surname.  The Lewis family of Van in Glamorgan took the Lewis name in the 1540's. 

The Lewis name is common today in Glamorgan and elsewhere in south Wales.  William Lewis, born in Merthyr Tydfil, was a 19th century coal mining magnate.

England.  The English Lewises have tended to be in the west country and the counties bordering Wales. One Lewis family which came to England in 1685 were Huguenots fleeing France who had changed their name from Louis to Lewis. 

Lewis later was an anglicized name for Jewish immigrants in London.  Prominent among these Lewises were:

• John Lewis who founded the John Lewis department store in London in 1864
• Ted "Kid" Lewis, the world welterweight boxing champion in 1915
• and Bernard Lewis, the distinguished Middle East historian.
  

America.  John Lewis from Monmouthshire came to Virginia in 1653.  His home was Warner Hall which stayed with the family until 1934.  Meriwether Lewis, he of the famed Lewis and Clark expedition, was related to these Lewises.  DNA testing has linked this Lewis line to Rhys Goch, lord of Ystrad in Breconshire in the 11th century.

Another John Lewis, this time from Ireland and of possible French Huguenot roots, arrived in Virginia in 1728.  His tombstone read:


This Lewis family ran the Lynnwood plantation and were pioneers in western Virginia.  Meanwhile, the Welshman Francis Lewis arrived in New York in 1734 and was an early figure in New York business.  His son Morgan became Governor of New York in 1804.