On the spelling of my name
Most people here know that I go by Gwyn, which is, in fact short for Gwynhefar. I've had several people lately ask where I came up with that name, and it's been awhile since I talked about it, so I figured it's a good time to explain.
My legal name is Jennifer. I was born in 1979. I *hate* the name Jennifer. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with it, but because there were so damn many of us when I was growing up. So, I was always on the lookout for a new name. Something related, but not as prevalent. Enter my obsession with etymology.
"Jennifer" is Cornish. It's a variant of an older Welsh name "Gwenhwyfar" which was translated as "Guinevere" in the old French Romances. Yes, I am apparently named after Arthur's wife.
Anyway, how did I get from "Gwenhwyfar" to "Gwynhefar"? Well, first of all, I don't like "Gwen". But I do like "Gwyn". In Welsh, 'gwen' is the feminine and 'gwyn' is the masculine version of the word meaning "white". This does not surprise me. I skew male in a lot of ways. So "Gwyn" it was. But "Gwynhwyfar" had too many y's in it and was too unpronounceable in English.
Then I read Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon. No, Bradley doesn't spell it Gwynhefar in her book. But some unknowing person who wrote the blurb on the back *did*. Dunno why - you'd think if your job was to write the blurbs on the back of books you could at least spell the names correctly. Doesn't matter - because I'd found my spelling. English language phonetic spelling of the -hwyfar part with Gwyn instead of Gwen. Perfect.
And so that is how I became Gwynhefar. In case you were wondering.
My legal name is Jennifer. I was born in 1979. I *hate* the name Jennifer. Not because there is anything inherently wrong with it, but because there were so damn many of us when I was growing up. So, I was always on the lookout for a new name. Something related, but not as prevalent. Enter my obsession with etymology.
"Jennifer" is Cornish. It's a variant of an older Welsh name "Gwenhwyfar" which was translated as "Guinevere" in the old French Romances. Yes, I am apparently named after Arthur's wife.
Anyway, how did I get from "Gwenhwyfar" to "Gwynhefar"? Well, first of all, I don't like "Gwen". But I do like "Gwyn". In Welsh, 'gwen' is the feminine and 'gwyn' is the masculine version of the word meaning "white". This does not surprise me. I skew male in a lot of ways. So "Gwyn" it was. But "Gwynhwyfar" had too many y's in it and was too unpronounceable in English.
Then I read Marion Zimmer Bradley's Mists of Avalon. No, Bradley doesn't spell it Gwynhefar in her book. But some unknowing person who wrote the blurb on the back *did*. Dunno why - you'd think if your job was to write the blurbs on the back of books you could at least spell the names correctly. Doesn't matter - because I'd found my spelling. English language phonetic spelling of the -hwyfar part with Gwyn instead of Gwen. Perfect.
And so that is how I became Gwynhefar. In case you were wondering.