Owen (name)

Owen is an anglicized variant of the Welsh name Owain, and may appear as both a personal name and as a surname (with or without the s as in Owens [son of Owen] ). Owen is cognate with Eugene meaning noble-born.[1][2] The name corresponds with Irish "Eoghan".[1][2] An alternate but less likely origin of the name is with the Celtic name "Esugenos", meaning "engendered of Esos".[1] However scholar Dr. Rachel Bromwich notes that Owein is usually latinized as "Eugenius", "[I]t seems most natural to regard both the Welsh and Irish forms as derivations of the Latin," T.J. Morgan cites Bromwich as commenting.[1] Variants of the name Owen and Owain include "Ewein, Iguein, Owein, Ouein, Ywein, Ywain, Yuein, and Yvain". Owen has also been latinized as "Oenus" and as "Audoenus", which has evolved into another variant Audoen.[1] Patronymics include "Bowen" (from "[a]b Owain")[3] and Owens.[1][2]

The names "Ednywein, Ednowain, Ednywain, Ednywen" are associated with Owain, and "appears to be a name constructed by a reshuffle of the naming elements, i.e. taking 'Edn'- from 'Ednyfed' and putting it before 'Owain'".[1]

Contents

People

Notable people with the surname or first name of Owen include:

Surname

Given name

Fictional

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Morgan, T.J. and Morgan, Prys, Welsh Surnames, University of Wales, 1985, Owain (Owen, Bowen, Ednowain). According to T.J. Morgan in Welsh Surnames (pp. 172/173) "Owen" is a derivation of the Latin "Eugenis" > [Old Welsh] Ou(u)ein, Eug(u)ein … "variously written in [Middle Welsh] as Ewein, Owein, Ywein. LL gives the names Euguen, Iguein, Yuein, Ouein. The corresponding form in Irish is Eoghan." Morgan notes that there are less likely alternative explanations and agrees with Dr. Rachel Bromwich that Welsh "Owein" "is normally latinized as Eugenius," and both the Welsh and Irish forms are Latin derivatives. Additionally, another latinized variations of the name Owen is "Audoenus" in certain parish registers
  2. ^ a b c Surnames of the United Kingdom, reprinted for Clearfield Company, INC by Genealogical Publishing Co. INC, Baltimore 1995, 1996. Surnames of the United Kingdom notes that the most likely and widely accepted origin of Owen (Old Welsh Owain, Irish Gaelic Eoghan, and Scottish Gaelic Eoghann,) is from Latin Eugenius. Cormic gives this origin for Eogan (one MS, Eogen); and Zimmer considers Owen to be borrowed from Latin "Eugens", as noted by MacBain, p. 400. The mediaeval Latinization of Owen as "Oenus" led to a belief that the etymology was the Welsh and Breton "oen" (lamb). With much stronger reason it was at one tme considered that the name represented Irish "eoghunn" = Gael. Ogan- [f. Old Irish oc- Welsh og, young], "youth".
  3. ^ In the Welsh language, "ap" (derived from old Welsh "map") means "son of".