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[Opinions] Re: Welsh BAs
in reply to a message by Pie
Pie, in a thread above you suggested Anwen as a possible choice instead of Arwen, and here we find two Anwens and an Arwyn among the parents! Good timing ...Can you put me straight about something? I taught a girl some years ago who called herself Ann but it seems that her actual given name was Annwen with two Ns instead of one. Could that exist as a variant, or was it just a family choice? I think her surname was Davies, but I'm not sure any more.And another thing: wasn't the underworld or part thereof called Annwn? Is there any connection? Seems a gloomy kind of name, if so. This site gives the meaning of Anwen as Very Beautiful, but I suppose it's just as well to stay on the right side of the powers of darkness - like calling the Furies the Eumenides!
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It did suggest itself. There's an Alwyn too :)I've only ever met people with the Anwen spelling, but the birth records show quite a few Annwen births (from 1913 onwards; use of both names seems to be fairly modern) and it's not uncommon for name-spelling to be flexible, or for new ones to be invented, even. It might be influenced by annwyl ('dear').
I'd think of Annwn too - but there are several spellings of that, too! And in some versions, the Otherworld is a lovely place.
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