Re: Origin of the Rees surname
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In reply to:
Re: Origin of the Rees surname
Dave Reese 7/07/04
Hi Dave,
thanks for your reply. You are correct, there are different spellings of Rees in Germany, Reese actually being a very common one.
It is interesting that you mention Rhys, since the book "Aus der Geschichte der Stadt Rees" (1972), a 140 page town history of Rees (on the lower Rhine River), explicityly mentions "Reys", derived from "Reis" (rice) or "Ried" (reed), as a source for the towns name. Over the centuries the town has also been refered to as "Ressa", "Ressen" and "Resse". The name "Ressen" was mentioned as early as in the 7th century.
The articles mention of the welsh surname Rees being derived from the towns name is certainly an assumption. However, considering that Rees borders on lower Saxony, and England having been settled by the Angles and Saxons in the 5th century, there might be some truth to it (The Wikipedia project has a good read on the Angles: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angles)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angles). But it's well possible that these names developed in parallel, not an uncommon thing. Considering that Rees is a common name among people from Wales, this BBC article makes for an interesting read: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2076470.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/2076470.stm.
A clear answer won't be easy to find. If we could look at the current Rees(e) males Y-chromosome it would definitely shed some light.
Best regards,
-Christian Rees
More Replies:
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Re: Origin of the Rees surname
antony rees 7/14/04