My name is Myfawnwy. Yes, I understand that it is spelled with an extra "W". My mother found the name in a book about the granddaughter of a Welsh woman who had been captured by Native Americans in the U.S. The granddaughter was named for her grandmother. I am sure the original pronunciation was lost over the years. So, my mother always pronounced my name "Mu FAWN wee. I knew it was Welsh my entire life but did not know the meaning of it until I lived in England when I was a newly married woman years ago. The translation I was given while there was, "My Rare One." I absolutely love my name. Although, I was given the nickname "Muffy," so I have not heard myself called Myfawnwy by most people. The first day of school each year was very fun indeed as I waited for the teachers to try saying my name. I have never met another Myfanwy. I love the shortened form "Myf" that they use in Wales and wish that my mother had known about that. I am of Welsh descent and I love that my mom gave me such a "unique" name, at least here in America.
Myfanwy Haycock (born Blodwen Myfanwy Haycock; 1913–1963) was a Welsh poet, illustrator, BBC broadcaster, and journalist. She is best known for 'Mountain Over Paddington' (1964) and collections of her poetry, 'Poems' (1944) and 'More Poems' (1945).Her work can be seen on display at Torfaen Museum.
I think it’s a pretty name. It’s pronounced Muh VAHN we not My FAN we. Although I like it I’m not sure I’d use it as a first name here in the USA. Maybe as a middle name.
I have Myfanwy as my middle name, I always loved it because of how different it was. It honestly took people ages even years (honestly I am surprised) to pronounce and write it correctly. But people always used to make fun of me saying it was 'my family' or 'my fanny.' It kind of bummed me out but I love how nice and unique it sounds!
I love this name. Reminds me of the beautiful love song Myfanwy, which is supposed to be considered old fashioned in Wales, but I still think it's exquisite. "Oh have I hurt you so, Myfanwy, That you should feel such hate for me?" So beautiful. I absolutely love this name, though I am Welsh, so perhaps a little biased. The lyrics above I have heard only in my childhood and despite my many searchings, have not been able to find at any time since. The song is, of course, Welsh in origin, but I believe David Alexander recorded a version that incorporated a loose version of English lyrics to it. To this day, though it haunts me still, I cannot find that version. The song remains ethereal in nature to me, and so the name also. It would be my first and last choice for a namesake right now, because it conjures only haunting and warm memories for me. I should mention that I am Welsh, abide in Wales, and that both my children were gifted names of that origin, ergo the pronunciation and meaning of Myfanwy are not foreign to me.It is pronounced in Welsh as Muh-van-oy in Welsh. The closest approximation as I can come to.
Myfanwy *in no way* looks like "my fanny," nor is "wy" on the end reminiscent of urine. I think the people who see that probably easily misread and misspell words that are somewhat uncommon. My name is "Mara" and a lot of people read it as "Maria," and I'm sure to them, "it looks just like Maria!" I think Myfanwy is a strong and lovely name.
The often cited references to Joseph Parry are somewhat spurious and are usually taken from a novel partly based on aspects of Parry's life called "Off to Philadelphia in the Morning". Parry wrote the music which was originally used in an English language song called Arabella. Several years later the Welsh poet Richard Davies (bardic name of Mynyddog) penned the words to Myfanwy which is most likely to be based on an ancient Welsh 14th century folk story Myfanwy Fychan of Castell Dinas Brân, Llangollen and the poet Hywel ab Einion. That story was also the subject of the popular poem, 'Myfanwy Fychan' (1858), by John Ceiriog Hughes (1832–87).
In 1964 I went to school with Myfanwy, whose family were recent immigrants from Wales. Her family ensured that we knew that the correct pronunciation was "mu VAN OI ", primarily as she was called My Fanny at school. I got away with "m VAN OH" which eventually degenerated to "VAN OH".
The correct pronunciation of the Welsh name Myfanawy is Muh-van-oi. Any first language Welsh speaker will know that in annwyl, wy and hwyl, the wy is pronounced as the English oi as in oil. So it is in Myfanwy. Miv-an-wee is the English mispronunciation. Dylan is another mispronounced name. The y should be pronounced as 'u' as in umbrella not 'i' as in pit.
It does look a lot like "my fanny". On top of that, it means "my woman", which sounds a little derogatory towards women.
― Anonymous User 10/1/2010
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Proof that some people will say they like ANY name if it happens to have a trendy 'Celtic' origin. Apart from the whole 'my fanny' thing it also has 'wee' (brit slang for urine) at the end of it. Not a pleasant name.
I think the double F is horrible, but I love the proper pronunciation of Myfanwy. If I were to use it in America, I would probably spell it in another way to avoid the constant mispronunciation (like Mivanwy or something). I usually hate misspellings of traditional names, but I would hate to force that burden upon a little girl.
For the record, I don't think it looks anything like 'fanny.' How could it, with that w right smack at the end?
― Anonymous User 11/5/2009
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Myfanwy is the name of the youngest child of the "rake" character from the Decemberists' album "The Hazards of Love." She is the only one of his children to escape being murdered by him, since she dies at birth. In the song, it sounds as though her name is pronounced "Mah-fan-wee." I think it sounds cute.
In Britain and Australian, the "fanny" means the "vagina", which makes this name sound even worse there.
― Anonymous User 10/6/2009
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I don't know why people are explaining that Myffanwy must be pronounced with a V as it is a double f - the entry for this name clearly shows it spelled with a single f.
― Anonymous User 10/6/2009
1
I love this name. Reminds me of the beautiful love song Myfanwy, which is supposed to be considered old fashioned in Wales, but I still think it's exquisite. "Oh have I hurt you so, Myfanwy, That you should feel such hate for me?" So beautiful. Though in some English versions of the song, "Myfanwy" is substituted with "Arabella", which takes the beauty away.
― Anonymous User 3/21/2009
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My name's Myffanwy too! Wow! I know one other person with the name Myfanwy. But she lives halfway across the world in Canada! Myffanwy. It's so uncommon it's not even funny! I love it though. It's unique!
Overall I like it, but I could never actually name someone this. It looks too much like "my fanny." And while "fanny" may be a cute, silly word for one's backside in American slang, it's something far more vulgar in British slang.
― Anonymous User 7/3/2008
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In the Welsh language a single f is pronounced as a v not an f. The whole name is roughly pronounced as Mi-Van-We.
Stunning! I don't think it reminds me of "my fanny". It looks Welsh / Celtic when looking at it. Not American, as in fanny, which is just American slang anyway. I would name my daughter this, but would more so use it for a middle name. The meaning is beautiful. I added it to my list.
Myf Warhurst is an Australian radio host and team captain for ABC's Spicks and Specks. I heard somewhere Myf was short for Myfawny. Myf is a nice nickname.
Myfanwy is the name of a Welsh song written by Joseph Parry.It is also the name of writers Edward and Helen Thomas's youngest daughter, Helen Elizabeth Myfanwy Thomas (who was known privately and professionally as Myfanwy).
I must disagree with your 'meaning' for the name 'Myfanwy'. As I understand it, Myfanwy means 'my dearest'. myf - my, anwy - derived from 'annwyl' which means dear. I am Welsh, therefore believe that I have some background information for defining this name.