William Camden flourished at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
was the first and one of the greatest of many authorities on the
derivation and meaning of English names as far as Welsh names were
concerned, he explained that it was his policy to sparingly touch them
or to leave them to the learned of that nation. Subsequent English
expositors have followed his example, and the learned men of Wales do
not seem to have found much time to devote to the subject. To- wards the
end of the nineteenth century T. E. Morris and Sir John Edward Lloyd
wrote a number of articles in various periodicals, and much incidental
information is found in the works of Sir John RhFs, but very little has
been published which is easily available, either to the student or to
the more casual enquirer. It is hoped that, in due course, a more
substantial work will help to fill this gap in philological reference
books, but meantime this little volume is offered to those who are
curious about the derivation and meaning of the beautiful and often
ancient names of Wales. It may, perhaps, be conned by young parents
seeking a name for their child. If so, those without Welsh connections
are advised to reject the idea of finding one here, and those with
sufficient ties to justify choosing one are admonished to use the utmost
care Gwenhwyfar Smith or Cadwaladr Robinson looks just as incongruous as
Cholmondeley Kai-shek - for just the same reason. The names which have
been included are, for the most part, fairly well-known or popular ones
the derivation or meaning of some is uncertain, and in these cases the
one given is that which, considering all the evidence, seems most
probable. After many of the entries are examples of early, famous, or
merely typical uses of the name. Nearly all Welsh names can be sorted
easily into one of seven groups. Those in the first four are Welsh in
origin but the remainder, although they have acquired a distinctive
Welsh form, derive from foreign sources. SYMBOLICAL NAMES These are
usually the most ancient. They are not directly descriptive, but, as
among most primitive people, they are often the names of animals, birds
or natural phenomena. Sometimes their origin was totemistic the tribe or
family believed itself to be under the special protection of a god whose
manifestation was in the form of some particular creature. The creature
itself was regarded as sacred and the chief, or head of the family,
frequently took its name, or some combination containing it, for
himself. At other times the giving of such a name was based on the more
simple idea that so doing would induce in the infant some significant
attribute of the beast from which his name was taken. As might be
expected, the names of the old gods and legendary heroes are frequently
of this type, such as Bran Raven, Bleddyn Little Wolf and Gwawr Dawn .
When they are chosen to-day, of course, it is generally with little
regard to their meaning, or symbolism, but simply because they are the
traditional names of the people. Enfys Rainbow is a modern example in
this group. Many of these too are very old...
