Phelps Family History

Phelps is a variant of the Bavarian name Guelph. It appears to have emerged in Wales and is now a common English surname.

It is a common misunderstanding that Phelps is related to Phillips. It is not. Phelps is a variation of Guelph. Guelph is the family name of the royal house of Hanover. Queen Victoria was a Guelph as was the current monarch, Elizabeth II until she officially changed it just before the birth of her son Andrew. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/1999/feb/18/monarchy

Phelps came into use, probably in Wales in the middle ages, and is now an English surname.

Wales is the country of origin and is a variant of the Bavarian name Guelph.

Phelps does not have a meaning per se because it is a royal family name.

List of people named Phelps

• Anson Greene Phelps, co-founder of mining company Phelps Dodge
• Austin Phelps, American clergyman and author of devotional and educational works, 19th century
• Benjamin K. Phelps (1832–1880), New York County District Attorney
• Bill Phelps, American politician
• Brian Phelps, radio personality
• Brian Phelps (diver), British former diver
• Chance Phelps, a US Marine killed in action in Iraq
• Charles D. Phelps, American physician
• Charles E. Phelps, American Civil War-era soldier and politician
• Charles Phelps Taft, prominent American lawyer and politician, brother of President William Howard Taft
• Charles Phelps Taft II, Mayor of Cincinnati, son of President William Howard Taft
• Christopher Phelps, American historian
• Digger Phelps, American basketball coach
• Edmund Phelps, Nobel Prize-winning economist at Columbia University
• Edward John Phelps, late 19th century American lawyer, diplomat and politician
• Eleanor Phelps, American theatre, film and television actress
• Elisha Phelps, a United States Representative from Connecticut.
• Elizabeth Stuart Phelps, American writer
• Fred Phelps, the vocally anti-gay pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, Kansas, USA
• Isaac Newton Phelps-Stokes, American architect
• James and Oliver Phelps, identical twins and actors
• Jaycie Phelps, Olympic gymnast
• Jill Farren Phelps, television producer
• Jim Phelps, a fictional character from the Mission: Impossible TV series
• John Phelps (regicide), a Clerk of the High Court of England and Wales which tried Charles I of England for high treason in 1649
• John Jay Phelps, railroad baron, financier, publisher, judge and merchant
• John E. Phelps, Union officer during the American Civil War
• John M. Phelps, Republican President of the West Virginia
• John S. Phelps, Governor of Missouri (1876–1881)
• John W. Phelps, American Civil War general and U.S. Presidential candidate (1880)
• Josh Phelps, former Major League Baseball player
• Kelly Joe Phelps, singer/songwriter - world renowned blues slide guitarist
• Ken Phelps, former Major League Baseball player
• Kerryn Phelps, Australian doctor
• Michael Phelps, American swimmer - most decorated Olympic medalist of all time
• Michael E. Phelps, inventor of Positron emission tomography
• Noah Phelps, American Revolutionary War-era soldier, spy, and politician
• Oliver Phelps, American land speculator, settler and judge in New York
• Orange Phelps, American politician and movie theater owner in Hillsboro, Oregon
• Peter Phelps, Australian actor
• Phelps Phelps, 38th Governor of American Samoa and United States Ambassador to the Dominican Republic
• Phlash Phelps, American disc jockey (DJ) on the Sirius/XM Satellite Radio Network, currently on the Sixties on 6
• Richard Phelps (bell-founder), (circa 1670-1738), English maker of bells
• Richard Phelps, British pentathlete
• Samuel Phelps, English actor
• Samuel S. Phelps, United States Senator
• Sarah Phelps, British television, radio, film and freelance playwright
• Shirley Phelps-Roper, daughter of Fred Phelps (above)
• Timothy Guy Phelps, business executive and politician
• Tommy Phelps, Major League Baseball pitcher
• Wesley Phelps, Medal of Honor recipient
• Willard Phelps, Yukon politician
• William Phelps, New England colonist
• William C. Phelps, Lieutenant Governor of Missouri
• William Henry Phelps, ornithologist
• William H. Phelps, Jr., ornithologist, son of William Henry Phelps
• William Lyon Phelps, Yale Professor and author
• William Wallace Phelps U.S. Representative from Minnesota in the 1800s
• William Walter Phelps, New Jersey politician
• William Wines Phelps, church leader and hymn writer in the early Latter Day Saints movement

In fiction

• Cole Phelps, police detective in the 2011 video game L.A. Noire
• Sally Phelps, Tom Sawyer's aunt in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Phelps is an English surname. Most of the people who carry this name are ethnically caucasian.