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.

Useful Resources

Discover the meaning and origin of other Welsh girls’ names.