Maddox

Maddox is mainly the transferred use of a Welsh surname meaning "son of Madoc." The name Madoc has Celtic roots and is said to mean ‘generous, forgiving’ while other sources indicate the meaning as ‘fortunate.’ In Welsh mythology, Madoc (or Madog) was a legendary prince of the 12th century who purportedly sailed to the New World three hundred years before Christopher Columbus. The supposed son of a real prince of Gwynedd in Wales, Madoc was forced to hit the high seas to flee the bloody dispute at home among his father’s many heirs. He and his fellow seafarers allegedly reached America in the 1100s and intermingled with the Native Americans which resulted in a tribe of Welsh Indians speaking a form of European languages somewhere on the American frontier. Many historic and anthropological attempts have been made to prove these legends, but none so far successful. These stories were romanticized and perpetuated during Elizabethan times in an attempt to lay claim to the New World for the English kingdom. In the 15th century, a Welsh poet laid these words to paper about Madoc/Madog: “Splendid Madog… / Of Owain Gwynedd’s line; / He desired not land… / Or world wealth but the sea.” A colorful story indeed and fun to believe if nothing else.