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[Opinions] Re: Cornish Names (and a question about Cornish culture)
I share your love of Morwenna - Endellion was chosen by just-resigned British prime minister David Camerion and his wife Samantha for a middle name for daughter Florence, born in the Cornish village of St Endellion
Jago is a name I like - Cornish form of JamesI grew up in England and as a child spent many holidays in Cornwall, sometimes at a bed and breakfast on the outskirts of the little town of Helston, famed for the "Floral Dance" (properly Furry Dance).
There has been a revival of the Cornish language of late, and there's a Cornwall (Kernow) "nationalist" movement! It always used to be said that the last speaker of Cornish was a woman called Dorothy (I can't remember her last name) who lived in the eighteenth century - but that may not be accurate, for I'm guessing that the modern revivalists learned the language from some speaker rather than a book.
There are lovely place names in Cornwall such as Mousehole, Marazion, Polperro and Lostwithiel - these fascinated me as a child on holiday there (the little fishing villages, home to smugglers in years gone by) are charming.
Gift shops always included a model of a Cornish folklore pixie queen called "Joan the Wad" - no doubt they still do!
During the nineteenth century there was a significant migration of Cornish tin miners to Australia (where I live) - mostly South Australia. They had surnames such as Andrewartha - very odd-looking to the non-Cornish eye - as well as the more familiar Tre- and Pen- names. The great Australian prime minister Sir Robert Menzies was of Cornish descent on his mother's side.
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Oooh, thanks for this post. I am spending a few days in Cornwall this summer (I'm American) and this post got me really excited!
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Okay, you just made me look up the Furry Dance, and that was delightful!Personally, I'd love to see St. Ives, if pictures are anything to go by.
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Yes, it's long been an artist's delight. Not to be confused with the "other" St Ives in England that's featured in the famous "as I was going to St Ives ... seven wives" ditty.
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