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ArchivesEmlin (English, masculine)
I found the masculine name Emlin used in the United States in 19th c. (as, for instance, in judge Emlin McClain).
Is it an Anglicisation of the masculine Welsh Emlyn? Is it the feminine Medieval English Emlin/Emlyn (Emmeline) used for boys initially as middle name honouring some female ancestor? Or does it come from another completely different origin?
Thank you very much.
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
Is it an Anglicisation of the masculine Welsh Emlyn? Is it the feminine Medieval English Emlin/Emlyn (Emmeline) used for boys initially as middle name honouring some female ancestor? Or does it come from another completely different origin?
Thank you very much.
Lumia
http://onomastica.mailcatala.com
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Replies
I doubt if this is a direct use of the Welsh name. It is rather probably a transfer from the surname.
Emlen or Emlin is the surname of a family that was prominent in the early days of the Quaker settlement in Pennsylvania. George Emlen was a settler in Philadelphia from Somersetshire in England. It seems that most Americans with the surname Emlen or Emlin are related to him.
On Ancestry Library I was able to find from records of the 1855 state census of Iowa that the parents of Emlin McClain, the Iowa judge you reference, were born in Pennsylvania. So that would seem to provide a geographic link to where most people with the surname Emlin lived.
According to Reaney & Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames, as a family name Emlyn goes back to the Old French female names Ameline or Emmeline, not the Welsh name. But I don't know if anyone has traced that derivation for sure for the Somerset family. Since Somersetshire is just across the Bristol Channel from Wales, and many early Quakers in Pennsylvania had Welsh ancestry, I suppose there is an outside chance that the American Emlin family derives there surname from the Welsh Emlyn rather than Emmeline. But that would require someone who's an expert on English and Welsh genealogy to answer for sure. :)
Emlen or Emlin is the surname of a family that was prominent in the early days of the Quaker settlement in Pennsylvania. George Emlen was a settler in Philadelphia from Somersetshire in England. It seems that most Americans with the surname Emlen or Emlin are related to him.
On Ancestry Library I was able to find from records of the 1855 state census of Iowa that the parents of Emlin McClain, the Iowa judge you reference, were born in Pennsylvania. So that would seem to provide a geographic link to where most people with the surname Emlin lived.
According to Reaney & Wilson's A Dictionary of English Surnames, as a family name Emlyn goes back to the Old French female names Ameline or Emmeline, not the Welsh name. But I don't know if anyone has traced that derivation for sure for the Somerset family. Since Somersetshire is just across the Bristol Channel from Wales, and many early Quakers in Pennsylvania had Welsh ancestry, I suppose there is an outside chance that the American Emlin family derives there surname from the Welsh Emlyn rather than Emmeline. But that would require someone who's an expert on English and Welsh genealogy to answer for sure. :)
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I'm glad I could help. :)
Do you have a reference to the fact of Emlyn being a place name only used as a given name in Wales after 1800? References such as Withycombe or Hanks, Hardcastle, and Hodges don't mention a place, but only the theories that it could come from Latin Aemilianus, or perhaps from an Old Celtic name which was "Latinized" as Aemilianus.
I do notice that Welsh Personal Names by Heini Gruffudd does mention a place, Newcastle Emlyn, in Dyfed, Wales, but it also says "could be from Aemilianus".
As an American, these entries seemed to imply Emlyn was in use before 1800, but I certainly assume that as a European closer to continental references that you are probably right and it's just one of many "Welsh" names introduced in the 19th century. :)
Do you have a reference to the fact of Emlyn being a place name only used as a given name in Wales after 1800? References such as Withycombe or Hanks, Hardcastle, and Hodges don't mention a place, but only the theories that it could come from Latin Aemilianus, or perhaps from an Old Celtic name which was "Latinized" as Aemilianus.
I do notice that Welsh Personal Names by Heini Gruffudd does mention a place, Newcastle Emlyn, in Dyfed, Wales, but it also says "could be from Aemilianus".
As an American, these entries seemed to imply Emlyn was in use before 1800, but I certainly assume that as a European closer to continental references that you are probably right and it's just one of many "Welsh" names introduced in the 19th century. :)
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My information comes from Iain O'hAnnaidh, a very very very reliable source in Welsh (he's a native Welsh speaker, a philologist in Celtic languages and a researcher about Welsh language and culture) and I trust him completely.
He had a website running, but now it is down.
http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_bedydd_cymraeg_geiriadur_cyflwyniad_2525e.htm
http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_bedydd_cymraeg_geiriadur_1_1265e.htm
http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_bedydd_cymraeg_geiriadur_2_2524e.htm
However, I had press his information about Welsh names and I can copy it here:
"(...)
PLACE NAMES AS FIRST NAMES
Some names from toponyms (e.g. Hirwaun) are not usually used as a first Christian name. They occur as a second element in the name and indicate a connection with a particular locality. This is also the case with certain saints names (e.g. Tegla, from the village of Llandegla).
(...)
PLACE NAMES AS FORENAMES.
Although not common, there are instances of place names becoming forenames. This practice dates from the 1800s, among ministers and preachers. Because so many had the same English names (David Jones, John Williams, and so on) it was necessary to add something to distinguish themselves from their namesakes (Of course, they could have changed their names completely, and given themselves Welsh names, but his would have appeared odd or lunatic in those days).
Generally, people often acquired a place-name tag to makes themselves more identifiable. It could be the place of origin, or the place in which a minister had settled and with which he had become associated.
He had a website running, but now it is down.
http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_bedydd_cymraeg_geiriadur_cyflwyniad_2525e.htm
http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_bedydd_cymraeg_geiriadur_1_1265e.htm
http://kimkat.org/amryw/1_enwau/enwau_bedydd_cymraeg_geiriadur_2_2524e.htm
However, I had press his information about Welsh names and I can copy it here:
"(...)
PLACE NAMES AS FIRST NAMES
Some names from toponyms (e.g. Hirwaun) are not usually used as a first Christian name. They occur as a second element in the name and indicate a connection with a particular locality. This is also the case with certain saints names (e.g. Tegla, from the village of Llandegla).
(...)
PLACE NAMES AS FORENAMES.
Although not common, there are instances of place names becoming forenames. This practice dates from the 1800s, among ministers and preachers. Because so many had the same English names (David Jones, John Williams, and so on) it was necessary to add something to distinguish themselves from their namesakes (Of course, they could have changed their names completely, and given themselves Welsh names, but his would have appeared odd or lunatic in those days).
Generally, people often acquired a place-name tag to makes themselves more identifiable. It could be the place of origin, or the place in which a minister had settled and with which he had become associated.
1
Thank you so much!
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