New Post
Search
Help
ArchivesMore information about the Aboriginal name - Mowan
Hello,
I am trying to find out some more information about my sons name, Mowan. All we know is that is an Aboriginal boy's name meaning The Sun. He is six now and has been asking lots of questions recently about his name, but I have no answers and cannot find anything more on the internet than what we already know.
We would like to know the Aboriginal language and ethnic group origin of his name, as well as which region in Australia his name hails from.
Any information would be very helpful!
Thanks in advance!
I am trying to find out some more information about my sons name, Mowan. All we know is that is an Aboriginal boy's name meaning The Sun. He is six now and has been asking lots of questions recently about his name, but I have no answers and cannot find anything more on the internet than what we already know.
We would like to know the Aboriginal language and ethnic group origin of his name, as well as which region in Australia his name hails from.
Any information would be very helpful!
Thanks in advance!
1
Replies
I was looking for a source for Mowan as an Aboriginal name beyond the "usual suspects" i.e. "baby names" websites that mostly only blindly copy from each other, and was near giving up when I stumbled upon the following:
1917/1918 a German language scientist wrote a paper about various Aboriginal languages, in German. The paper is online here (however, only available with an account):
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40442927
And there they are, on page 459, two words in the language of the Aborigines living on the Cobourg peninsula, "inner dialect" (as opposed to "outer dialect"): "mowan" and "manif", both meaning "sun".
That's the peninsula, it seems:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobourg_Peninsula
What is this worth? Hard to say. Searching for Mowan as a giving name, I could not find much, and certainly not an interesting number of Aborigines with that name. So this all may be pure coincidence - but maybe not :)
1917/1918 a German language scientist wrote a paper about various Aboriginal languages, in German. The paper is online here (however, only available with an account):
http://www.jstor.org/stable/40442927
And there they are, on page 459, two words in the language of the Aborigines living on the Cobourg peninsula, "inner dialect" (as opposed to "outer dialect"): "mowan" and "manif", both meaning "sun".
That's the peninsula, it seems:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobourg_Peninsula
What is this worth? Hard to say. Searching for Mowan as a giving name, I could not find much, and certainly not an interesting number of Aborigines with that name. So this all may be pure coincidence - but maybe not :)
1
I just realised that I was the OP back in 2015!!! Thank you so much for doing the reserach and for responding!!
2
The historic language family of the Cobourg peninsula is supposed to be Iwadgic, which includes Mawng, in which language and current orthography the sun is "muwarn". Earlier compilers did use the spelling "mowan".
https://www.mawngngaralk.org.au/dictionary/lexicon.php?letter=09#e1992
https://www.mawngngaralk.org.au/dictionary/lexicon.php?letter=09#e1992
This message was edited 8/30/2023, 3:39 PM
1
Thanks for this! My son's name is Mowan too! We live in the Caribbean!
1
Thanks for this. My son’s name is mowan too.
1