Welsh Linguistics and The Name Briallen

Briallen is a Welsh girls’ name. The meaning of Briallen is commonly regarded to be “primrose.”

Popularity

As for the popularity of Briallen, it was not in the top 100 baby girls’ names in 2018 however there are famous individuals bearing the name include architecture researcher Briallen Roberts, actor Briallen Clarke, and author Briallen Hopper.

While it would seem there has been very little historical study of the name Briallen, Robert A. Fowkes has suggested in an article for the linguistics journal WORD that the name is a possible “metanalysis” or reshaping of the singular Welsh word meaning “primrose” into a more familiar plural form using the suffix “-en.” His suggestion was based on an early twentieth century study of Welsh grammar by John Morris-Jones. This would mean the name technically means “primroses,” plural.

This is what Morris-Jones had to say about the name:

“For pl. names of vegetables a sg. is sometimes formed by adding -en, as hesgen ‘a rush,’ meillionen ‘clover-flower’, or -yn, as blodeuyn ‘flower’, rhosyn ‘rose’. The forms briallen, brieill are recent fabrications […] based on the absurd supposition that the -u of briallu is a pl. ending.” (59)

“Works Cited”

Fowkes, Robert A. “Metanalysis and Reshaping in Welsh.” WORD, vol. 28, no. 1-2, 1977, pp. 187–206.

Morris-Jones, John. An Elementary Welsh Grammar. Clarendon Press, 1922.

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Meaning and Origin of the Name Heledd

The meaning of Heledd is uncertain .

Popularity

At one time the popularity of Heledd was fairly popular, but it has kind of phased out throughout the years. In today’s time the name seems to be picking up again in popularity and you’ll come across people with this name in Wales.

How to Pronounce the Name?

The name Heledd can be prounced as ‘HEL-eth’

Famous People with the Name

Princess Heledd is where a lot of the popularity of this name came from. She was a mythical 7th century Welsh princess

Heledd Cynwal is another woman who has this name. She is a pretty famous British television presenter.

Another example of the name being used is the well known actress Heledd Gwynn.

Why Choose this Name?

Heledd is going to be a name that continues to make a comeback. It is going to grow in popularity and you are going to begin to see it more and more as time goes on.

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Meaning and Origin of the Name Mairwen

The name Mairwen is a girl’s name that is a combination of two words, Mair (the Welsh form of Mary) and Gwen (meaning fair or pure).

Meaning of Mairwen

The meaning of Mairwen is beloved fair one. Mairwen is of Welsh origin.

Popularity of Mairwen

In the 1880s Mairwen was not one of the top 200. In the 21st century, Mairwen was not in the top 10 girls names for 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2018, Mairwen did not even make it into the top 400.

From 1880 to 2017, Wales had less than five baby girls per year given the name Mairwen.

Famous People Called Mairwen

Among the girls named Mairwen, included are Mairwen Price who is a certified clinical somatic educator. Price offers public classes that are one-to-one clinical sessions. Price works for three football leagues. In fiction, Mairwen was a princess born of a unicorn mother and a pegasus father. Mairwen was an alicor.

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Meaning and Origin of the Name Alys

The name Alys is from the Old German name Alice. It’s the Welsh version of this Germanic name.

The meaning of Alys is exalted or noble .

It can be used as a male or female first name, and a last name.

Popularity

The popularity of Alys was 497 in the U.K. in 2018. In the U.S., its first recorded appearance was in 1880, and it peaked at 1555 on the top 2000 names list before disappearing off the list in 1910.

Famous People with the Name Alys

Some famous people named Alys includ Alys Fowler, a British horticulturist and journalist best known for her work on the BBC, and the Welsh novelist Alys Conran best known for her novel Pigeon. Alys Williams is a Welsh singer from Caernarfon who starred in the television programme The Voice.

Other famous people named Alys are Alys of France, Comtesse of Vexin, the daughter of French king Henri VII and Constance of Castille, his second wife, and Alys Robi, a French Canadian singer. Several characters in George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire series are named Alys, and Phillip K. Dick named a character Alys in his novel Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said. Some variations of the name are Alyse, Ilysse, Aliz, and Aleece.

Origin and Meaning of the Name Madlen

The name Madlen is significant due to its biblical origins. It was originally derived from Hebrew meaning Magdala. Of course, this points to the great saint, Mary Magdalene, who traveled with Jesus and was a witness to his crucifixion.

Because of these hallowed origins, the meaning of Madlen has many variants in the Western world with Magdalen, the English form, being the most common.

Popularity of the Name

Although Olivia, Ava, and Amelia remain the top three choices for girl names in Wales, the popularity of Madlen continues to remain in relative obscurity.

Madline was not in the top 100 baby girls’ names in Wales in 2018.

Famous People Called Madline

There are very few famous Welsh people that have this name with one exception, Madlen Davies.

She is a hard-hitting investigative journalist who works for various marquee publications such as the BBC Wales, Pulse, and is also currently Health and Science editor at the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. She also recently won Association of British Science Writers in Journalism in Science in 2019.

All in all, Madlen is a very unique baby name that any Welsh girl would be proud.

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Meaning of the Name Braith

The meaning of Braith is known to be freckled. Although, the name can also mean multi-colored, speckled, or black and white.

Braith can both be a female and a male name.

The name Braith is also known to be a surname in England near Edinburgh.

Popularity

The popularity of Braith is that it was not in the 100 most popular baby girls name in Wales during the year of 2017. The name placed at number 17,911 in 2017. Additionally, from the year of 2002 the name Braith has risen in popularity over time, but since 2012 the popularity of the name has declined.

Famous People Called Braith

There are two famous people with the name Braith. There is a famous Australian rugby league player named Braith Anasta, and a 19th century German painter named Anton Braith.

More than that, there is a character in the action role playing game “Skyrim” named Braith. In the game “Skyrim” she is a Redguard child who lives within the Wind District of the city of Whiterun.

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Origin and Meaning of Aneira

Aneira is an uncommon feminine name of Welsh origin. The name comes from the word “eira”, meaning “snow”. It is generally pronounced in one of two ways: un-AY-ra; un-EYE-ra.

Popularity of Aneira

The name Aneira is only known to have been in use since the early 1900s. Though it had an increase in commonality over much of the century, it is not listed on the most recent top 100 popular girls’ names in Wales in 2023.

In the United States, the popularity of the name spiked in 2015 but dropped significantly the next year and has not increased again since.

Famous People Named Aneira

Two women of note share this name.

Aneira Thomas was the first baby born in the new National Health Service in the United Kingdom in 1948. She was named after the founder of the NHS, and would later join the medical profession as a nurse.

Aneira Davies is a freelance journalist and copywriter in London, United Kingdom. She specialises in crafts, interiors, and lifestyles and has written for numerous magazines.

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Origin of the Name Cranogwen

The name Cranogwen is a girl’s name and a bardic Welsh name.

Meaning of Cranogwen

Cranogwen is a unique name that means captive charm, realist, aspirations, narrator, orderly, generous, warmth, to endear, and name for pleasant one.

Popularity

Cranogwen was not in the top 100 baby girls;’ names in Wales in 2018.

People called Cranogwen

Sarah Jane Rees

Sarah Jane Rees was a mariner, a poet, journalist, preacher, and campaigner who was also known as Cranogwen. Born in Llangranng in Cardiganshire. Rees lived from 1839 to 1916. Rees was born the daughter of John Rees, a mariner. Ms. Reeves was a progressive girl who preferred accompanying her father on sea mariner trips than taking class sewing and cooking. Rees was educated by an old schoolmate named Hugh Davies who has taught her astronomy and Latin. Ms. Rees received a masters degree in ship navigation. After Sarah Rees completed her formal education, she started her own navigation school in 1859. Rees has published poems.

Saint Cranogwen

Cranogwen is a version of St. Carragnnog after a saint who the town of Llranng in Wales.

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Meaning and Origin of the Name Deryn

The name Deryn is a two-syllable unisex name. The meaning of Deryn is derived from the Welsh word “aderyn,” which means bird.

Popularity

While the name has been around since the early 1900s, it has never seen a particular surge in popularity. It has remained a fairly rare name with the popularity of Deryn not placing it in the rankings of the 100 most popular baby girls’ names in Wales in 2017.

Famous People with the Name Deryn

There have been several individuals of note with the name Deryn. Among them is the noted Anglo-Welsh poet Deryn Rees-Jones; she has produced a number of poetry books, is a professor of poetry at Liverpool University, and was shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize in 2012 for “Burying the Wren.”

Another notable usage of the name is in the world of fiction. Deryn Sharp is a central figure in Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan trilogy which consists of the books Leviathan, Behemoth, and Goliath.

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