Name of the Week: Elowen

 

  

 

Origin:

Elowen is a modern Cornish name which derives from the vocabulary word elowen meaning "elm tree."  Cornish is a close relative of the Welsh language and the two share a common cultural heritage. As with Welsh, three syllable names in Cornish generally put the stress on the middle syllable, meaning Elowen is pronounced el-OH-en or sometimes el-OO-en. To the Ancient Celts, the elm was the tree of the Underworld or Otherworld and was particularly associated with elves. Cornwall also has its own species of elm called the Cornish Elm and are Cornwall's most common hedgerow tree.* The Cornish language was spoken locally up to the 18th century. It gradually began to decline and, though it is now spoken by less than 1% of the population, it still plays an important part of Cornwall's identity.  Like many Cornish names currently in use, Elowen's use is quite new, sparked by the Cornish language revival movement in the 1970s and 1980s. At this time, many Cornish names were either revived or taken directly from the modern Cornish dictionary. Specifically, the adoption of many of these modern names was thanks to a short book entitled Names for the Cornish by Cornish publishers Dyllansow Truran in 1970, in which Elowen was included.

Usage:

Elowen was first registered as a middle name in Britain in 1983 but was not registered as a given name until 1997. Since then, Elowen has steadily increased in use in England and Wales, as has the alternate spelling Elowyn. This rise can be seen in the birth rankings (recording 3 or more births) for England and Wales: Sadly, there are no official statistics for Cornwall itself, but the closest we can get is the regional data for the South West of England which includes Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset, Dorset, Devon as well as Cornwall. In this data, it is clear that Elowen is more common in its native Cornwall and surroundings than in the rest of the country. This rise coincides with the revival of other Cornish names such as Lowenna, Merryn, Senara, Sennen, Jago, Piran, Lowen and many others.  Name ranks in the South West (birth count in brackets):   Elowen Elowyn 2014 2015 2016 #305 (13) #264 (15) #200 (22) - - #482 (7) In 2016, Elowen took over Jennifer and Merryn as the most popular Cornish name in Cornwall for girls. Overall in England and Wales, Elowen ranked #1031 (34 births) and Elowyn was #1920 (15 births).

Variants:

Elowyn

Pronunciation:

el-LŌ-en; el-OO-en  [key]

Possible  diminutives:

Ellie, Ella, Lo, Lola, Wenna

Sibling Names:

Merryn     Lyra     Neve     Orla     Ffion     Bryher  Fraser     Jago     Rafe     Robin     Asher     Rafferty

Name Lists:

Cornish Names   Cool Celtic

 

If you like Elowen you may also like:   Endelyn, Lowenna, Everly, Merewen, Fearne, Arwen, Iona, Hazel, Saffron, Rowan

Thanks to Kathleen for requesting this name.