Cornish Girls Names

[lizzielu]

We are looking to give our DD2 a Cornish
name (DH's roots) but do not live England anymore, so I've no idea of what's popular in Cornwall. I currently like Tamara or Tamsin, but I've also heard Zena is Cornish but I can't find any info on the internet. Can anyone from Cornwall confirm this?

Give us a clue RhinestoneGirl? My daughter thinks she's the only Morwenna in the universe (apart from Morwenna Banks who is the voice of Peppa Pigs mum!)

I think Zena is Greek.
Beryan
Bronnen
Caja
Cara
Carey
Carin
Carlin
Cary
Caryn
Corin
Demelza
Ebrel
Ennor
Glen
Gwennap
Jennifer
Kayna
Kenwyn
Lamorna
Lowenna
Loveday
Melwyn
Merryn
Morenwyn
Morva
Morwenna
Rosen
Rosenwyn
Rosevear
Talwyn
Tamsin
Tean
Tegen
Tressa
Ursell
Verran
Vyvyan
Wynne
Zennor

Not Morwenna

I think mine is not that uncommon now, although I rarely actually meet another.

I have Cornish ancestry on my mum's side. One person was called Loveday. I'll have a look at the family tree for more names (althugh they may not be in fashion amymore!)

Some of these are so lovely, DH is a Catherine or Sarah kind of bloke tho... Still, got 6 months to work on him (if this one is a girl).

Choosing a name for DS was agony

I know someone called Tamar (Daughter) and there is a River Tamar in Cornwall I belive.

Found another ancestor called Sabina - the rest of them seem to be Ann, Catherine etc!

The Tamar is on the border betwen Cornwall and Devon.
I love Loveday, and only met one since we've been here.

My great grandmother was called Tamar but it wasn't after the river. Tamar is a biblical name that isn't popular now but was at the time she was born. I think it is quite nice and could have the Cornish connection.
I like Morwenna.
Jennifer is the Cornish form of Gwenevere, it is quite interesting if you look at the 1881 census because every Jennifer (or the various spellings)lived in or was born in Cornwall.It only spread later on.

my gran's middle name is Loveday

We have an ancestor called Sabina from the West, I bet were related

Just found out that Tamara is a cornish legend as a celtic goddess of the river Tamar. Apparently she dissolved into tears which became a crystal stream flowing out to the ocean (R. Tamar) after a love triangle with Tavy and Tawrage (sons of Dartmoor giants) who also ended up as rivers - one (R.Tavy) that seeks his lost love by flowing and minglng alongside her out to sea and the other, ever sorrowing flowing away from her forever (R.Taw). Tamara was also one of the greatest queens of Georgia which explains why most baby sites give the origin as Russian. Maybe she had celtic roots?
I think we are going to go for Tamara Lily - (middle name Grt. grandmother's from Devon) - well that's the name of the week - only six weeks to go so it could change again!

Do I get a prize for this?
I will watch this thread to see what you name your daughter!

We have a Jennifer Ellen and a Tamsin Morwenna (and a George Petroc and a Nicholas Samuel), all of which - and whom - have Cornish heritage!

fiplus4 - do you know if Tamara is quite popular in Cornwall?
I haven't really had a good response from my side of the family - some say it sounds too posh, some say it sounds like tommorrow (said with cockney accent!)
What do you think of Tamara?

Oh Merryn is beautiful. I've never come across it but I like it a lot.

St Agnes
St Just
St Ives
St Buryan
St Keverne
Sennen
Nanjizal
Marazion
Polzeath
Perranporth
Piran
Mevagissey
Tintagel

Quite like Sennen (!)

Or What about "Tivy", pronounced Tiv-ee
originally from South Wales I think but I used to work with a Tivy who was cornish.

I like Tamara. I think most people have only come across it in conjunction with Beckwith. It's pretty straightforward to spell but the best name test of all is to imagine yourself yelling it up the stairs in two or three years time followed by '...hurry up and get your shoes on'

This book might be useful. I used it when looking for scottish names but it has a lot of cornish names in it too.

Thanks Dragonbutter - my husband bought that book back from England last time he visited, it was very usefull but strangely it does not have Tamara listed.

Filplus4 - I have already been trying this with my 3 1/2 year old - I've been calling her Tamara or Tamsin for fun and she prefers to be called Tamsin!

I saw an American actress on some Showbiz Entertainment channel with the name Tamara last night but it was pronounced very differently (Tam - er- ra) to how I've been pronouncing it(Ta - mahr - ra.I assume most English people would pronounce it in the same way as I would.But it got me thinking on how you pronounce the river Tamar and maybe I'm pronouncing the name wrong and it should be Tay - mahr - ra.

What is the Cornish pronounciation of the name Tamara?

The river is Tay-mar.
I once knew a little girl caller Tamar pronounced that way. We are in Devon but very close to the cornish border.
We also have friends in israel who called their daughter Tamar but with a different meaning, probably hebrew. I think the origin of their meaning was a type of fruit.

we now live in cornwall and have decided to call our baby girl ( due october) Elowen Talwyn Poppy, the first 2 are cornish and my other daughter likes Poppy, we have had 3 different pronounciations of Elowen. we struggled with a girls name so had a book called 300 names for the cornish from the library and read through them as soon as i said Elowen we both decided staraight away.

Tamsin is really pretty, and I only know one, so thats even better!

Our friends have a baby called Elowenn. Her mum is very cornish and wanted a cornish name for her daughter.

They pronounce it El-o-wen