Anwen

Anwen
Gender	Female
Language(s)	Welsh language
Other names
See also	Anwyn (masculine form)

Anwen is a Welsh female name. There are a number of English translations for the name's meaning, the most common is Very Beautiful, other translations include fair, pure and white.

Similar sounding names

Anwen is not a very common name, though neither is it rare and it can be found in most Welsh baby naming books. Many people, however, have confused the name with the name Arwen from J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The name Arwen means noble maiden in Sindarin.

Other similar sounding names include:

• Branwen - Bran = Crow & Gwen = White (ƒ)
• Tanwen - Tân = Fire & Gwen = White (ƒ)
• Bronwen - Bron = Breast & Gwen = White (ƒ)
• Dwynwen - Dwyn = to steal & Gwen = White (ƒ)

Dwynwen is the Welsh patron saint of lovers, whose name is given to Dydd Santes Dwynwen, which is celebrated on 25 January and is the Welsh equivalent to Valentine's Day.
Note: the g in gwen is dropped in a mutation of the word as the word follows a consonant.
Gwen, although literally meaning White, is often used as part of a name to denote 'fair' 'holy' or 'pure'.

Variations

Colour names in the Welsh language, as in may other languages including French, have masculine and feminine forms. The masculine version of the name is Anwyn, coming from the word Gwyn = White (m) , but outside of Wales, this is often viewed as a variant spelling of Anwen. Some people have argued that Anwen in itself could be interpreted as a variation on names such as Gwen, due to the shared meaning of white, particularly as "Angwen" (the unmutated form) is sometimes given as a variant.

Anwen is also reputed to have originally come from the longer form "Annwylydwen," meaning" Pure (wen) Beloved one (Annwylyd).

As a surname

Although it is possible to have the name Anwen as a surname, it is even more rarely used in this way than it is as a first name.