High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! Howell is a surname (family name or last name) originating from Wales. It is not a particularly common name among those of Welsh ancestry, as it is an Anglicized form of the Welsh name Hywel. It originates in a dynasty of kings in Wales and Brittany in the 9th and 10th century, and three Welsh royal houses of that time onwards. The Tudor Royal house of England was also descended from them. See: Welsh surnames.