ivoryw0lf's Personal Name List

Rhys
Gender: Masculine
Usage: Welsh, English
Pronounced: REES
Rating: 70% based on 3 votes
From Old Welsh Ris, probably meaning "ardour, enthusiasm". Several Welsh rulers have borne this name, including the 12th-century Rhys ap Gruffydd who fought against the invading Normans.
Rhiannon
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, English, Welsh Mythology
Pronounced: ri-AN-awn(Welsh) ree-AN-ən(English)
Rating: 0% based on 1 vote
Probably derived from an unattested Celtic name *Rīgantonā meaning "great queen" (Celtic *rīganī "queen" and the divine or augmentative suffix -on). It is speculated that Rigantona was an old Celtic goddess, perhaps associated with fertility and horses like the Gaulish Epona. As Rhiannon, she appears in Welsh legend in the Mabinogi [1] as a beautiful magical woman who rides a white horse. She was betrothed against her will to Gwawl, but cunningly broke off that engagement and married Pwyll instead. Their son was Pryderi.

As an English name, it became popular due to the Fleetwood Mac song Rhiannon (1976), especially in the United Kingdom and Australia.

Olwen
Gender: Feminine
Usage: Welsh, Welsh Mythology, Arthurian Cycle
Pronounced: OL-wehn(English)
Rating: 75% based on 2 votes
Means "white footprint" from Welsh ol "footprint, track" and gwen "white, blessed". In the Welsh tale Culhwch and Olwen she was a beautiful maiden, the lover of Culhwch and the daughter of the giant Yspaddaden. Her father insisted that Culhwch complete several seemingly impossible tasks before he would allow them to marry.
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