Will Storm Arwen mean more baby Arwens?!

[jclm]

Arwen is a beautiful Welsh name but relatively unknown outside of Wales. Do you think this will lead to the name becoming more well known and used?

Nope, I'm pretty sure Arwen is Lord of the Rings (so a Tolkien invention) rather than original Welsh - you might be thinking of similar Anwen which is Welsh?

I think if the popular Peter Jackson films didn't make the name Arwen very popular (and how gorgeous did Liv Tyler look as the character!), then the storm name won't make much difference. So if you are thinking of using it for a DD (it is very pretty!), I wouldn't worry it's going to be overused anytime soon

I loved the name Arwen when I read Lord of the Rings but I forgot to call my DD it. Feel a bit sad as it really suits her (she's now 13).

I really love the name so I hope it does become popular

I can’t see an awful storm inspiring boost in the name Arwen. I’m pretty sure the name Katrina declined after the devastating hurricane Katrina. But who knows 🤷🏼‍♀️

I would have though LOTR would have been the main source of a boost if there was ever gonna be one.

@IamnotwhouthinkIam it's Welsh, Tolkien used it in Lotr but it's definitely Welsh

I know someone who had an Arwen last week, they aren’t Lord of the Ring fans and they were unaware that the next storm would be called Arwen. They now feel weird using it, but it’s a beautiful name so in a couple of weeks when the country has moved on to its next problem I doubt people will be thinking much about it.

According to this, it took 2 years after the first film was released for it to really start climbing

@dontletthemugglesgetyoudownn - That's interesting and good to know, as most baby name websites/books say it's an invention based on other Welsh language names (as he invented several others based on Welsh for the books). Several Welsh posters in the past have previously said it's not a "real" Welsh name, but I only live in Wales and am not Welsh first language so I wouldn't know for sure! I hope you are right as it would be nice to think it has a longer history than Tolkien as it's a very pretty looking/sounding name !

I wouldn't say it is relatively unknown outside of Wales, LOTR saw to that a couple of decades ago.

Whether it will be boosted because of the storm, I doubt there will be any notable increase in use because of the storm. But it does have a similar feeling to many popular girls names right now, and there is a good chance a few pregnant women will hear the storm name and think "actually, Arwen is a lovely name" and use it - not expecting a huge spike in use though.

I think yes - I was just thinking myself earlier today what a lovely name it is!

It's not welsh, it's from LOTR.

It is only occasionally used as a girl's name in Wales probably as a female version of the welsh boy's name Arwyn.

The welsh pronunciation would be ARR-wenn with the Ar like the arr in Harry.

Anwen and Alwen are welsh and much nicer

Arwen is from LOTR.
Arwyn is a boys name.
There’s Awen (means ‘muse’) that’s a Welsh female name, I have known a few who’d be over 80 now so it pre dates Tolkien but possibly where he got the idea for the name

Awen is a welsh name. It means muse.

It's pronounced OU-enn, OU as in Ouch.

It's not much used but it is very pretty

It could well be that the name Arwen was inspired by Awen

I know 2 teen Arwen (girl)/Arwyn (boy) in Scotland.

It's a lovely name and I didn't even give the storm a thought tbh.