Originally a patronymic, Owen became a fixed surname in Wales beginning with the reign of Henry VIII.
[2] According to T. J. Morgan and Prys Morgan in Welsh Surnames: "the name is a derivation of the Latin Eugenis > OW Ou[u]ein, Eug[u]ein ... variously written in MW as Ewein, Owein, Ywein.
"[2] Morgan and Morgan note that there are less likely alternative explanations, and agree with Rachel Bromwich that Welsh Owein "is normally latinised as Eugenius", and that both the Welsh and Irish forms are Latin derivatives.
However, another Irish name, Uaithne (pronounced [ˈuənʲə], meaning 'wood', 'work', 'pillar', or 'harmony') has also sometimes been anglicised as Owney.
Owen can also be an anglicised form of the French name Ouen, as in the case of Ouen of Rouen, metropolitan bishop of Rouen, known in Latin as Audoenus, from Germanic Audwin and Aldwin with French variant form Audoin.