Name of the Week: Seren

 

 

Origin:

Seren is a Welsh name, taken from the vocabulary word seren "star." The word was adopted as a given name in the mid 20th century. Prior to that, an obscure Welsh name Saeran was borne by an early Welsh saint. Little is known of St Saeran other than he was the son of Geraint Saer of Ireland. Sear meant "carpenter, wright, artisan" in Old Welsh. With the diminutive suffix -an Saeran essentially meant "Sear the younger." Serin is also the name of a small European finch, closely related to the canary. The scientific name Serinus serinus is thought to derive from the French name for the canary, serin, which itself is thought to be a corruption of the Latin citrinus "lemon-like (coloured)".

Usage:

Despite being the name of an early Welsh saint to whom a church is dedicated in Llanynys, Denbighshire, I can find no evidence that Saeran was ever used as a given name in Wales or Britain in general.  Seren itself was first registered in England and Wales in the late 1940s. It was rare at first but gradually increased in usage by the 1990s as birth registrations in England and Wales show: 1940s: 1 birth 1950s: 6 births 1960s: 13 births 1970s: 14 births 1980s: 57 births Middle names (such as Seren Thomas in 1988 and Seren Anthony in 1989) suggest that, initially, it was a unisex name. Since 1996, Seren has ranked five times for boys in England and Wales: 1997 (3 births), 2001 (6 births), 2002 (3 births), 2005 (3 births) and 2013 (3 births). [To rank, a name needs 3 births or more that year]. click to enlarge By 1996, Seren had become an established name -- particularly in native Wales -- ranking #539 (46 births) overall. It first hit the top 100 in Wales in 1997 at #90 (37 births). In England that year, on the other hand, it only ranked #1237 (14 births), giving it a combined rank of #520.  Over he following decade, Seren raced up the charts, particularly in Wales but also as well in England though not as dramatically.  In 2007, Seren reached #7 (222 births) in Wales and #328 in England [#156 combined]. It peaked in 2009 at #3 (256 births) in Wales, and at #149 (335 births) in England in 2013.  In 2014, Seren ranked #11 (142 births) in Wales and #161 (326 births) in England [#119 combined.  In Scotland, Seren ranked #236 (17 births) in 2015.

Famous Bearers:

Contemporary: * Seren Haf Gibson (b.1988), Welsh glamour model. * Seren Bundy-Davies (b. 1994), Welsh track and field sprinter Other: * Seren Gomer, the first Welsh-language weekly newspaper. * Seren Books, a Welsh publishing house.

Variants:

Seran, Serin

Pronunciation:

SE-rən [key]

Possible  longer forms:

Serenity, Serena, Seraphina

Sibling Names:

Freya     Carys     Mali     Eleri     Nia     Lois      Dylan     Lucas     Max     Rhys     Elis     Cai

Name Lists:

Cosy Celtic

  

If you like Seren you may also like:   Megan, Sienna, Ffion, Elin, Aderyn, Briallen, Eirys, Rhian, Fearne, Bethan

 

Thanks to Amy for requesting this post.