indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Meaning & History
The name of the Lady of the Lake in the Old French Vulgate Lancelot and the continuation to the Vulgate Merlin, known as the Suite du Merlin. (The earlier Vulgate Merlin uses the variant form Viviane.) 'She raised Lancelot and imprisoned Merlin. The Middle English Prose Merlin says that the name was Hebrew, meaning "I shall not lie". Arthour and Merlin, which gives the Lady of the Lake role to Morgan le Fay, names Ninniane as a town near Morgan's residence. Some scholars have favored a Celtic origin for Ninniane, finding it in the lady Rhiannon, wife of Lord Pwyll. Merlin calls her Nimue' (Christopher W. Bruce, 1999). This name is possibly of Celtic origin, perhaps related to Ninian; a derivation from Proto-Celtic *nino- "ash tree" has been proposed.