25,682 Global PROSSER Family Members

PROSSER Family History

The surnames Rosser and Prosser are very closely related and are Welsh in origin. Both are patronymic and refer back to the name of an ancestor called Rosser. The Prosser variation is a contraction of the words 'ap' (Welsh for 'son of') and Rosser (the name of an ancestor). Together, both as 'ap Rosser' and as 'Prosser' they mean 'the son of Rosser'.

There are a couple of theories relating to the origins of the name 'Rosser'. In some cases it may be regarded as a Welsh variation of the English name Roger which is derived from the Old Germanic 'Hrothgar' – 'hroth' (fame) and 'gar' (spear) and was introduced to Britain by the Normans. The Welsh sound system originally did not include a 'j' sound and so was interpreted as 'sh' or 's' instead.

The second theory relates to the Welsh word 'rhos', meaning heath, and in Welsh 'rhoswr' would mean someone who lived on or was associated with a heath. A third theory considers that it may derive from the Welsh word 'rhyswr' which has the same root as the Welsh name Rhys, and would therefore have originally meant a 'fervent man' or 'combatant'.

Both the Prosser and Rosser forms were, historically, mainly (although not exclusively) seen in south Wales, particularly in Glamorganshire and Monmouthshire during the 16th and 17th centuries. There are also some notable Prosser surname clusters during those centuries in the Montgomeryshire, Radnorshire and Breconshire parish registers.

The 1851 Wales census shows that the main concentration of Prosser families that year were in Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire, Breconshire and Radnorshire. Some entries were also evident across the border in England in the county of Herefordshire. The Rosser form that year was mainly confined to Monmouthshire, Glamorganshire and Breconshire.

Notable people

• Thomas L Rosser (1836–1910), an American Civil War major general and a brigadier general during the Spanish–American War.
• David Lewis Prosser (1868–1950). Born in Llangynnor, Carmarthenshire, he was appointed Archdeacon of St. David's in 1920. In 1944, he was elected Archbishop of Wales.
• Glyn Prosser (1907–1972), A Welsh international rugby union player who was born in Glynneath. He played club rugby for Neath and won four caps for Wales, most notably when he was a member of the Wales team that beat the New Zealand All Blacks in 1935.

 

SOURCES:

1851 census

A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (1896) by Charles Wareing Endell Bardsley

Surnames of the United Kingdom (1912) by Henry Harrison