The surname Yale is derived from the Welsh word "iâl", meaning fertile ground, which was the name of the lordship of Yale in Wales of the royal house of Mathrafal. The name was later given to the estate of Plas-yn-Iâl by the House of Yale (Yale family), a cadet branch of Mathrafal through the princes of Powys Fadog and Fitzgeralds of Corsygedol.
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 Elihu Yale (1649–1721), no descendants, president for the British East India Company, Governor and diamond merchant, retired one of the richest men in Britain, benefactor and cofounder 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 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, father of Elizur Yale Smith, who married Mrs. Livingston Tooker Best of Mrs. Astor's Four Hundred, a relative of Gabriel M. Tooker and Charlotte Tooker, of the Goelets and Vanderbilts 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, and Congressmen and Senators William Lawrence and James Wakefield Levi Yale (1792-1872), abolitionist, postmaster, justice of the peace, was cofounder and lieutenant governor 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. Benjamin Douglas, his son Levi B. was nominated for Senator 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 in Canada, fur trader and competitor of John Jacob Astor, Yaletown named after him, was in-law of Sir George Simpson, who was the Governor and defacto Viceroy of Prince Rupert's Land, a cofounder of Canada, and the most powerful man of the North American fur trade, was cousin of 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, most successful paper in America, personal spy of U.S.