The L450 Soundex

L450 is the soundex for Llewellyn. As a Llewellyn surname researcher this is very important to understand!

If Llewellyn (or one of the 200+ variations) is your surname, then you have likely had people misspell your surname. And 400 years ago when our forefathers were arriving in North America most of them could not write nor spell their surnames. They just knew how to pronounce it.

Our earliest ancestors spoke with a Welsh accent. In the Welsh language the 'll' is pronounced with a rush of air that sounds like 'fl'.

Watch this rather humorous video to hear how Llewellyn is pronounced in the native Welsh language.

And here is another that focuses on the pronounciation of the "Ll" sound.

This gave rise to the the Fluellen ^[1] surname. When researching pre-1850 records the Llewellyn researcher should not exclude these records!

As they interacted with officials (who could read and write) and bought property, or sued their neighbors, or married, the officials had to base the surname spelling on phonetics.

So, in legal matters, our surname spellings were determined - phonetically. Thus we see Llewellen, Lewellen, Lewallen, Lewallin, Lewelling, and so forth.

These variations happened at the individual level. In other words, it is easy to find a single individual with multiple spellings of their surname.

Some common surname spellings:

Llewellyn, Lewallen, Lewellen, Lewelling, Luallen, Lewellin, Lewellyng, Leuwelling, Leuellin, Fluellen, Luellen, Lewallin, Llewlyn, Llewelling, Llewylin, Lewellyn, Lieuallen, Flewellin, Flewelling, Fluellin, Fluallen, Lewelleng, Lluellin, Llewellinge, Lluelling, Flueling, Sewellen

Some spellings found in records:

Lallean, Lallen, Lavelin, Laueline, Lauellen, Laulen, Laulin, Lavallen, Lavlin, Lauallen, Lawallen, Lawellen, Lawellyn, Lawhlin, Lawilin, Lawillin, Lawlin, Leaulan, Leeallen, Leewallen, Leewellyn, Leiwallen, Lelewen, Leoellan, Leowillen, Leuallen, Leuellin, Leuellyan, Leuillian, Leuillan, Leuillin, Leuallan, Leullen, Leuyellen, Lewalen, Lewalin, Lewallan, Lewallen, Lewaller, Lewallin, Lewalling, Lewallon, Lewallyn, Leweellen, Lewelan, Lewelein, Lewelin, Lewelline, Leweling, Lewellan, Lewellane, Leweller, Lewellin, Lewelling, Lewelln, Lewellon, Lewellyen, Lewellyne, Lewelwin, Lewelyn, Lewelyon, Lewewellen, Lewlin, Leweline, Lewyellen, Lewyellin, Lieyellon, Leyellon, Leywellen, Leywellan, Lieuellan, Lieuallen, Lieuellen, Lieuallan, Liewallen, Liewellen, Liewellin, Liuwllen, Liwallen, Liwellen

And some less common mutations:

Flello, Flellos, Hillin, Hilling, Lello, Lellow, Lewhellin, Llewheling, Llewhellin, Llewhelling, Sewellon, Sewellin, Sewellyn, Whellin, Welling, Wellins^[2]

Search Tip:
If you have hit a wall searching, try substituting an S for the leading L in your surname. Apparently, people transcribing records commonly mistake someone's cursive L for an S.

And in reality I have many more documented variations that I will add once I find the list.