Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 826

Academy of Saint Gabriel Report 826

This report is available at http://www.s-gabriel.org/826

Some of the Academy's early reports contain errors that we haven't yet corrected. Please use it with caution.

Greetings from the Academy of Saint Gabriel!

You sent us several questions. We will answer them in three parts of which this is the second. You asked for our opinion of the name <Eowyn ap

Keylan>, which you intended to be a late 15th or 16th century Welsh woman's
name meaning "Eowyn of Keylan". Here is what we have found.

<Eowyn> appears to be Old English feminine given name, but it is not one that is recorded in our references. It is plausible: The element <Eo-> exists, though it is rare, and <-wyn> was very common [1]. Even if <Eowyn> did exist, though, it is not Welsh. Some Old English names were adopted into Welsh, but we found nothing like this in our Welsh references.

The word <ap> does not mean "of"; it means "son" and is used in men's names to identify the man's father. <Hywel ap Meurig> means "Hywel son of Meurig". The feminine equivalent is <ferch>, as in <Margery verch Ieuan>. The Welsh did not often use geographical name in personal names; that was much more common in English. When they did do it, they did not use any word for "of". For example, <Anne Powes> means "Anne of Powys". The preposition "of" is understood.

We could not find the exact place name <Keylan> in Wales or England. There is a <Celyn> in Llanycil, Merionethshire [2]. Another Merionethshire source has a place called <Cilan>, which is recorded in the late 13th century as <Kylan> [3]. <Keylan> might be a reasonable variant spelling.

Two very good articles on 16th century Welsh names are available on the web. You can find them at

http://www.panix.com/~mittle/names/celtic.html

I recommend you start with the Simple Guide.

I hope this letter has been useful. Please write us again if any part of it has been unclear or if you have other questions. I was assisted in researching and writing this letter by Talan Gwynek.

For the Academy,

Arval Benicoeur


References

[1] Boehler, Maria, _Die altenglischen Frauenamen_ (Nendlem, Liechtenstein:

Krauss Reprint, 1967 [1930]).

[2] Richards, M., _Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units_ (Cardiff:

University of Wales Press, 1969).

[3] Tangwystyl verch Morgant Glasfryn, "Names and Naming Practices in the

Merioneth Lay Subsidy Roll 1292-3", in Known World Heraldic Symposium Proceedings, 1991 (SCA: Laurel, Maryland, 1991).