I'm rejoining my Friday group, and building a character to play.
She's a mercenary soldier, built for tanking. I'd provisionally named her Fallon, an Irish name that means "Leader/Guide" or "Descendant of a King", but am now thinking that a more Welsh flavor would be interesting. I'd like a name similar in both sound and meaning to the original name, but I'm sure there'll have to be some compromise in one or the other.
I'd appreciate some help from the resident Welsh speakers with finding some options along those lines, if I might. I'd identified the roots "Llwy" and "Udd" having some relation to the meaning (with the benefit of Llew also meaning "Lion", which could fit nicely with one line of development for her abilities). Also, help to identify how atypical given names might seem would be appreciated. ^^
One last note: none of the other players have any real knowledge of Welsh either, and at least one actively hates trying to think of names or name meanings, so this isn't really a critical thing. Mainly it's to assuage my fixation on meaningful, interesting, not-invalid names for my characters. >.<
Comments
Names
My favorite Welsh name is Raquel.
What?
Have you forgotten our very own Angharad?
Only joking.
Mine is Bronwyn.
closely followed by Ffion
Why not have a more humorous name?
For a tanking character, why not pick a name that means something completely inappropriate, but SOUNDS like it could be kind of mean/epic?
Case in point: Blodwyn. Welsh, yes, but its meaning is "fair flower." You could even work in her actually getting called something similar but brutally mangled/mispronounced -- "Bloodwyrm," perhaps -- in attempt to make her girly, supposedly-embarrassing name into something that screams "hardened mercenary" a bit more. Of course, even the hardest of the hardcore have to have their days when they truly are a fair flower, right? And on those days, Wynnie could come out to play.
Best to me, though, is it also gets in that pop culture reference for those who really look deep enough, since Blodwyn is the real name of the recurring (though now long-absent) character Raven in Questionable Content :)
Melanie E.
Might this help?
http://www.behindthename.com/names/usage/welsh
Sorry can't help you.
GWEN f Welsh, English
From Welsh gwen, the feminine form of gwyn meaning "white, fair, blessed"... [more]
GWENDA f Welsh, English
Another name to consider
Manon
Rhymes with Fallon
Means 'wished for child' but also translates in some situations as 'Queen' in Welsh
Is also popular as a name in France (a diminutive of Marie)
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
Cymry names
The Pendragon RPG Rulebook has a list of both male and female Cymry names in it. Mine is presently in my storage locker otherwise I would just type in the entire list for you.
Enwau Cymraeg
Depending on gender... You could always just have Brenin, or king. Twrch, boar. Barcud, kite (bird). Rhyfelwr, warrior. Enwog, renowned. Llŷr, and all his associates and offspring, including his daughter the White Crow https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ll%C5%B7r
Thank you all so much!
Taking what everyone has offered, and following links from searches for them (as well as following the reference links from the Wikipedia article Cyclist linked and the names site Julia linked), I think I'm down to a good candidate for what sounds/feels good to me. I wouldn't mind people's evaluation of it, if you're willing. ^^ Especially, I'm interested in making sure that the name isn't too masculine-sounding, and that the byname follows the normative patterns for such.
So, the name that I'm provisionally looking at is Tarianrhodd, and her cognomen would be Cyfarchwr (I kind of enjoy torturing my fellow players a little bit with names that are difficult for them to parse out pronunciations; it helps expand their world... >;) )
Jennifer: *snerk* X) Nice!
Samantha: All good names, but not quite what I'm looking for.
Mel: ...Bwahahah. ^^ Maybe in another game, I can make that work. Not quite how I'm picturing this one, though.
Julia: As mentioned, VERY useful. Thanks!
Gwen: No wukkas, dear. :) Variations on the -gwen morpheme weren't quite speaking to me, though.
Persephone: Manon might have worked, but, as you mentioned, it's also a French name. Specifically, it's the name of a character who is the object of rather... icky... obsession by a much older man in the films "Jean de Florette" and "Manon des Sources". I just can't divorce the name from the association. >.< Thanks though.
Briana: I could have sworn that I had a pdf copy of that game, but I can't find it anywhere. >.< It would have been nice, and certainly better than my first try (Sherrilyn Kenyon's "Character Naming Sourcebook"; not >bad< per se, just not very comprehensive or accurate).
Cyclist: Diolch enfawr! The mention of Llyr and the Mabinogion was the final catalyst. The other names are pretty good, but they pointed up something I didn't make clear. ^^ The character is female (4-f, in fact).
So, any problems that anyone can see with the names I have now?
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
Diolch yn fawr
...except the suffix "-wr" is masculine, the feminine version strictly speaking being "-wres" or "-wraig", though the simple "-wr" is usually treated as gender-neutral. It is the direct equivalent of the English "-er" as in "thrower", while the other forms can be seen in "seamstress" or "washerwoman"
Exactly...
...the sort of info I was hoping for, and exactly the sort I can't readily coax out of machine translation as it currently exists. ^^;
So, hmm... Cyfarchwres or Cyfarchwraig?
I think I like Cyfarchwraig a little better. :) Thanks, Cyclist!
So Tarianrhodd passes examination? ^^; /me admits to a ridiculously deep need for validation in non-expertise areas... >.<
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
Your words
Gift-shield and greeter. Cyfarchwr would work, but I suggested "Greet-woman" (-wraig) and "Greeteress" in order to emphasise the female. "-wrach" might work too; it would mean witch.
:D
Sounds great! Thanks again!
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"
Also, apropos of naught...
According to this Wales Online article, my "Welsh Warrior Name" is Meudwen ap Gwallter. O.o
-Liz
Successor to the LToC
Formerly known as "momonoimoto"