Hughes (surname)

Hughes is an Anglicized spelling of the Welsh and Irish patronymic surname. The surname may also be the etymologically unrelated Picard variant "Hugh" (Old French "Hue") of the Germanic name "Hugo".
Wales.
In Wales and other areas of Brythonic Britain, the surname derives from the personal name "Hu" or "Huw", meaning "fire" or "inspiration". At the time of the British Census of 1881, the relative frequency of the surname "Hughes" was highest on the Welsh island of Ynys Môn (Anglesey; 37.2 times the British average), followed by Gwynedd, Flintshire, Denbighshire, Meirionydd, Montgomeryshire, Ceredigion, Radnorshire and Carmarthenshire.
Ireland.
The surname evolved from the ancient Irish name of "Ó hAodha", "grandson/descendant of Aodh (meaning "fire")." "Aodh" was frequently Anglicized as "Hugh", with "Ó hAodha" in turn being anglicized as "Hughes" or "Hayes". "Hughes" is the 15th most common name in the northern Irish province of Ulster, being especially common in the Ulster counties Armagh, Tyrone, Monaghan, Donegal and Fermanagh. It was the 34th most common name in all of Ireland in Matheson's 1890 census of Ireland and the 44th most common surname in Ireland in the 1992–1997 period. In addition to the counties of Ulster, the surname Hughes is also commonly found in the counties Wexford, Galway and Cork. There are variant spellings.