Powell as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Powell

What is the meaning of the name Powell ?

The baby name Powell is a Male name , 2 syllables long and is pronounced /ˈpaʊ.əl/ (POW-əl).

Powell is Welsh in Origin.

Powell is a Welsh patronymic turned given name, from ap Hywel, literally "son of Hywel." Through consonant assimilation the p of ap attached to Hywel, yielding Powell. Hywel, borne by the 10th-century lawgiver Hywel Dda, means "eminent" or "conspicuous," so Powell carries the sense "descendant of the eminent one."

As a hereditary surname it appears across Wales and the English borderlands from the late Middle Ages and later spread to Ireland and the Americas. In Britain and the United States it migrated into first-name use in the 19th and 20th centuries, often honoring a family surname; it remains uncommon but recognizably traditional. Variant spellings include Powel (rare), and closely related forms are Howell (English) and Hywel (modern Welsh), alongside the Celtic cousin Hoel in Breton. Feminine use is very rare; the name is typically masculine.