Yale (surname)

The surname Yale is derived from the Welsh word "iâl", meaning "clearing" or "glade." Iâl or "Yale" was a commote of medieval Wales, in the Kingdom of Powys and, after that kingdom's dissolution in 1160, Northern Powys.Wanderings and excursions in North Wales, Thomas Roscoe, Esq., C. Tilt and Simpkin & Co., Wrightson and Webb, Birmingham, London, 2020, p. 87 "Yale" became a family name around 1480, when Ellis ap Griffith received the estate of Plas-yn-Iâl by marriage.Encyclopedia of Connecticut biography, American Historical Society, Chicago, 1923, Vol. 7, p. 95-96 Ellis' son, David Lloyd Iâl (Yale), is the earliest figure to whom Yale is attached as a surname, and David's son Thomas Yale was an important figure in the early Church of England.Dodd, A. H., (1959). YALE family, of Plâs yn Iâl and Plas Grono Wrexham. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 22 Aug 2025

In the early modern period, the family produced Elihu Yale, the benefactor of Yale University.

Members

Notable descendants with the surname include:

Thomas Yale (1525/6–1577), co-representative of the Royal House of Mathrafal, Ambassador to Queen Elizabeth Tudor, Chancellor to Archbishop Edmund Grindal, the head of the Church of England, was cousin of the Tudors, family immortalized by William Shakespeare in Henry IV and his Henriad, his grandfather was Baron Ellis ap Griffith, founder of the House of Yale, and grandnephew of Owain Glyndwr, last native Prince of Wales David Yale (c. 1540–1626), nephew of Chancellor Thomas Yale, was the Chancellor of Chester and Vicar General of Bishop George Lloydd, was of the family of Sir Simon Weston and the Willoughbys of Wollaton Hall, he was a correspondent of Lord William Cecil of Burghley House Thomas Yale Jr. (1616–1683), grandson of Chancellor David Yale of Erddig Park, was captain, merchant, cofounder of New Haven Colony, fought in King Philip's War, half-brother of Samuel Eaton, one of the seven founders of the Harvard Corporation, oldest corporation in America, family cofounded Harvard University Thomas Yale (c. 1647–1736), his son, was Captain, cofounder of Wallingford, Connecticut, Justice of the Peace and deputy to the Connecticut General Assembly, was father of Capt. Theophilus Yale, and ancestor of Yale Todd, who was accorded his military pension by Founding Father John Jay before Congress Elihu Yale (1649–1721), no descendants, president for the British East India Company, Governor and diamond merchant, retired among of the richest men in Britain, benefactor and namesake of Yale University, family of Gov. Theophilus Eaton and Harvard's first headmaster, Nathaniel Eaton, was father-in-law of Lord James Cavendish, son of the 1st Duke of Devonshire of Chatsworth House and Hardwick Hall Theophilus Yale (1675–1760), Connecticut magistrate, captain and Justice of the Peace, was the granduncle of Dr. Lyman Hall, a Founding Father of the United States, his daughter Sarah Yale became the great-grandmother of abolitionist Congressman Sherlock James Andrews, a relative of the Griswolds John Yale (c. 1736–1800), Reverend, Rector and Fellow of St John's College, Cambridge, inherited Plas-yn-Yale in Wales, cousin of John Yale, graduate of Jesus College, Oxford, was made Deacon by Bishop John Green, the chaplain of Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset of Petworth House Elihu Yale (1747–1806), Revolutionary War Captain, wealthy bayonet manufacturer, was grandfather of spy Moses Yale Beach, and the granduncle of Judge Jared Potter Kirtland, his cousin, Rev. Thomas Yale, graduated from Yale in 1765 Josiah Yale (1752–1822), captain during the American War of Independence, was a pioneer of Lee, Massachusetts, Justice of the Peace, Minister Treasurer and Deputy in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, was the great-grandfather of millionaire Wellington Smith, America's largest paper manufacturer and intimate friend of Abraham Lincoln Elisha Yale (1780–1853), reverend, first minister of Gloversville, New York, founded Kingsborough Academy, graduated from Yale College, was granduncle of Wellington Smith, one of the largest paper manufacturers in America, nephew of Senator Elizur Smith and father of Elizur Yale Smith, who married the daughter of Col. Clermont Livingston Best of Mrs. Astor's Four Hundred, a relative of Gabriel M. Tooker and Charlotte Tooker, of the Goelets and Vanderbilts Burrage Yale (1781–1860), largest tin ware manufacturer in Wakefield, Massachusetts, Justice of the Peace and Postmaster, son founded Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, producing muskets Springfield Model 1861 for Abraham Lincoln's army, family of millionaire Congressman Chester W. Chapin, was step-grandfather of Dr. Roswell Park William Yale (1784–1833), merchant, son of patriot Samuel Yale, founder of the Yale manufacturing dynasty of Yalesville, was the largest manufacturer in Meriden, Connecticut, partner of the Griswolds, family of diplomat Henry L. Atherton and the Woodworths, his son-in-law was the proprietor of the "New York Hotel" and a cofounder of the Manhattan Club Barnabas Yale (1784–1854), abolitionist lawyer, cofounded Central New-York Anti-Slavery Society, featured in The Liberator, family of Mayor George W. Gardner, the second business partner of John D. Rockefeller, related to Quincy and Adams family, was a cousin of Col. Braddam Yale, family of Venetian Lorenzo Da Ponte, associate of Mozart and Casanova, builder of the first Italian opera in America Cyrus Yale (1786–1854), American minister, peace maker and activist, cofounded the US Temperance Union of the Temperance Movement with Stephen Van Rensselaer, of the Van Rensselaer family, the richest man in America, was of the family of Judge John H. Kennard, Congressmen and Senators William Lawrence and James Wakefield, and Harvard professor Edward Durand, Director of US Census Bureau under President Taft William Parry Yale (1790–1867), Lieutenant Colonel, magistrate, High Sheriff of Denbighshire, inherited Plas-yn-Yale, fought under the Duke of Wellington during the Napoleonic Wars, served under Lord Lieutenant Robert Myddelton Biddulph, the proprietor of Chirk Castle Levi Yale (1792–1872), abolitionist, postmaster, justice of the peace, was cofounder and Lt. Gov. of the Liberty Party of Connecticut, an abolitionist political party which eventually merged to become the Republican Party, he was an agent of the Underground Railroad with Lt. Gov. Douglas, and was cousin of two Yale graduates, Congressman Jonathan Brace and life insurance founder Thomas K. Brace Linus Yale, Sr. (1797–1858), American inventor and Bank lock maker, 1st Mayor of Newport, New York, his patents signed by U.S. President Andrew Jackson, obtained US Treasury contract for all the new bank locks, mints, sub-treasuries and custom-houses in the US, was cousin of Burrage Yale of Lamson, Goodnow & Yale, the major gun-machine manufacturer of Abraham Lincoln's army James Murray Yale (1798–1871), Montreal, chief trader for the Hudson's Bay Company, fur trader and competitor of John Jacob Astor, Yaletown named after him, in-law of Gov. Sir George Simpson, the de facto Viceroy of Prince Rupert's Land, a cofounder of Canada, and the most powerful man of the North American fur trade, was cousin of merchant William Yale, Gen. Edwin R. Yale, and Moses Yale Beach, one of the richest men in New York Moses Yale Beach (1800–1868), newspaper entrepreneur, proprietor of banks, ambassador, owner of the New York Sun, crime news pioneer and most successful paper in America, personal spy of U.S. President James Polk for Mexican–American War, fortune 1/4 of Cornelius Vanderbilt, cofounded the Associated Press, oldest and largest news agency in the United States, his nephew was Governor of the New York Stock Exchange Edwin R. Yale (1804–1883), Brigadier General of the New Haven Grays, was a Britannia metal merchant and manufacturer in New York, proprietor of the luxurious landmark U.S. Hotel and Mansion House Hotel in New York, married a member of the Colgate family, of the Colgate-Palmolive conglomerate and Colgate University, was 1st President and cofounder of the abolitionist Sumter Club for Abraham Lincoln Charles Dwight Yale (1810–1890), Democratic Senator from Wallingford, son of Britannia ware manufacturer Charles Yale, founder of Yalesville, Connecticut, nephew of Gen. Edwin R. Yale, owner of the largest hotel in America (1830s), competitor of John Jacob Astor's hotel the Astor House, family of Senators Edgar and Charles Atwater and Judge William Gardner Choate, founder of Choate Rosemary Hall George Henry Yale (1820–1897), Montreal, Major commander, Mayor of Louiseville, founder of Yaletown, acquired from Lord Samuel Gerrard, was a fur merchant and manufacturer, Justice of the Peace by Baronet Louis-H. La Fontaine, family of William Dalby, Mayor of Victoria, BC and Andrew Yale, shipbuilder for the family of Sir Charles Boucher de Boucherville, Premier of Quebec Linus Yale, Jr. (1821–1868), inventor, entrepreneur, founded the Yale Lock Company, Premier manufacturer of locks in the U.S., partner of millionaire Henry R. Towne, a fellow of F.W. Taylor, his son John B. Yale married the daughter of the US Treasury Secretary of Abraham Lincoln, Hugh McCulloch, who was with Lincoln at his deathbed the night of April 14, 1865, main lock manufacturer of Rolls-Royce, company sold for over a billion dollars in 2000 Rufus M. Yale (1822–1899), Boston merchant, sergeant, leading sailmaker in New England, was cousin of fur trader James Murray Yale and philanthropist Laura Almina Wood, daughter-in-law of Lt. Gov. Julius Catlin, had James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, Governor General of Canada under Queen Victoria, as one of his customers William Corbet Yale (1825–1909), Oxford graduate, Deputy Lieutenant of Denbighshire, Wales, heir of Plas-yn-Yale, Madryn Castle and Widcombe Manor, served under Lord Lieutenant William Cornwallis-West, a family member of Prince Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg and Winston Churchill, Yale was cousin of Sir Thomas Love-Jones-Parry, and nephew of Lt. Gen. Sir Love Jones-Parry William H. Yale (1831–1917), Senator, 6th lieutenant governor of Minnesota under Governor Horace Austin, President of the Senate, member of the Minnesota State Senate, co-owner of law firm Yale & Webber, with Senator Daniel S. Norton, US Treasury Secretary and Senator William Windom, Congressman Thomas Wilson and attorney general Charles H. Berry. John Wesley Yale (1832–1900), Colonel of the 51st New York Infantry, trustee of the New York State Asylum by Gov. Teddy Roosevelt, was in the paper business, his nephew was Charles Chapin, NYC editor for Congressman Joseph Pulitzer, his sons-in-laws were Mayor John Henry Walrath and baseball team owner George Frazier, his grandson Col. Wesley W. Yale was a tank commander under General Patton William Yale Beach (1836–1910), son of Moses Yale Beach, was the first banker of Wallingford, Connecticut, and a real estate developer in New York, his uncle Benjamin Henry Day cofounded the New York Sun, while his cousin, Clarence Day, cofounded Yale University Press Merton Yale Cady (1840–1900), architect in Moline, Illinois, grandson of Linus Yale Sr., designed number of projects for his father-in-law, John Deere, was the uncle of airplane manufacturer Willard Lamb Velie, and a family member of William Butterworth, Congressman Benjamin Butterworth and baseball team owner Erastus Wiman Theodore Yale Gardner (1841–1900), Presbyterian minister from Cleveland, son of Col. Gardner, brother-in-law of Gen. Orson M. Oviatt's daughter, was brother of mayor George W. Gardner, married the daughter of Col. Nahum Ball Gates, and granddaughter of abolitionist minister John Monteith, he became Western Secretary of the American Education Society, and first pastor of Glenville Church, funded by magnates Louis Severance, Amasa Stone and Samuel Livingston Mather II