How popular is the baby name Bronwen in the United States right now? How popular was it historically? Use the popularity graph and data table below to find out! Plus, see all the blog posts that mention the name Bronwen.

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Popularity of the baby name Bronwen


Posts that mention the name Bronwen

Babies named for the Lusitania

RMS Lusitania
RMS Lusitania

On May 7, 1915, the British passenger ship RMS Lusitania was nearing the end of a risky trans-Atlantic voyage from New York to Liverpool when it was torpedoed by a German U-boat about 11 miles off the southern coast of Ireland.

Europe had been embroiled in WWI for nearly a year by that point. Earlier in 1915, in response to being blockaded by Britain, Germany had declared the seas around Ireland and Great Britain a war zone. This meant unrestricted submarine warfare: U-boats would attack any Allied or neutral ship — military or not — without warning.

The Lusitania sank in just 18 minutes. Of the 1,962 passengers and crew on board, nearly 1,200 perished. The casualties consisted primarily of British and Canadian citizens, but also included 128 Americans.

Judging by the records I’ve seen, hundreds of babies worldwide were named Lusitania that year. Most were born in the United Kingdom. Others were born in the U.S., Australia, Canada, and elsewhere.

Here’s a sampling of the many babies named Lusitania in the UK:

  • Lusitania May Rayson, born in England on May 4, 1915
  • Bronwen Lusitania Davies, born in Wales on May 7, 1915
  • Lusitania Southwell, born in England on May 15, 1915
  • Lusitania Mayo, born in England on May 17, 1915
  • Lusitania Cartwright, born in England in mid-1915
  • Lusitania M. Fox, born in England in mid-1915
  • Lusitania Haywood, born in England in mid-1915
  • Lusitania Ypres Heavingham, born in England on June 20, 1915
  • Lusitania Nash, born in Wales in mid-1915
  • Lusitania Walker, born in England in mid-1915
  • Lusitania Cranstone, born in England in mid-1915
  • Lusitania G. Elias, born in Wales in mid-1915
  • Lusitania Wiggins, born in England in mid-1915
  • Lusitania Hayden, born in Eng in late 1915
  • Lusitania R. Horncastle, born in England in late 1915
  • Lusitania Colbridge, born in England on December 3, 1915

And here are a few of the U.S-born Lusitanias:

  • Lusitania Looney, born in Virginia in July of 1915
  • Lusitania Vinson (married name Lusitania Kelley), born in Oklahoma in March of 1916
  • Lusitania Henselman, born in Wisconsin circa 1916
  • Lusitania Krupinski, born in Missouri circa 1916
  • Lusitania Totino, born in New Jersey in May of 1917

Though the U.S. public was outraged by the destruction of the Lusitania, president Woodrow Wilson was reluctant to get the country involved in World War I.

Several months later, in September of 1915, Germany agreed to stop attacking passenger vessels.

In January of 1917, however, Germany decided to resume unrestricted U-boat warfare. This reversal — along with the interception and decoding of the Zimmermann Telegram — convinced Wilson to ask Congress to declare war against Germany. Which it did, on April 6, 1917.

The RMS Lusitania was named after the ancient Roman province of Lusitania, located on the Iberian peninsula. The province, in turn, was named after the Lusitanians — the people who’d lived in the region before it was conquered by the Roman Republic.

Sources: FamilySearch.org, RMS Lusitania – Wikipedia, Unrestricted U-boat Warfare | National WWI Museum and Memorial, Timeline (1914 – 1921) – LOC

P.S. In 1982, divers salvaged one reel of the silent film The Carpet from Bagdad, which featured a character named Fortune, from the wreckage of the Lusitania.

Where did the baby name Fiona come from in 1942?

The character Fiona from the movie "The Gay Sisters" (1942).
Fiona from “The Gay Sisters“

The name Fiona — coined during the 18th century by Scottish poet James Macpherson, who based it on the Irish word fionn (“white, fair”) — is relatively common in the U.S. these days. Rank-wise, it’s been hovering around 200th place for the last few years.

But — like Siobhan, Maeve, Bronwen, and many other Celtic names — it didn’t arrive with the immigrants. Instead, it was introduced to America later on, via pop culture.

Fiona first popped up in the data in 1942, and it stuck around for several years:

  • 1944: 7 baby girls named Fiona
  • 1943: 19 baby girls named Fiona
  • 1942: 9 baby girls named Fiona [debut]
  • 1941: unlisted
  • 1940: unlisted

What boosted it onto the charts that initial time?

The movie The Gay Sisters, which came out in August of 1942. The main characters were the three Gaylord sisters/heiresses: Fiona, Evelyn, and Susanna. Fiona, the eldest sister, was played by popular actress Barbara Stanwyck (birth name Ruby Catherine Stevens). The film didn’t do well at the box office, but it clearly had an impact on expectant parents.

The movie was based on the book of the same name by Stephen Longstreet. Longstreet was also the writer behind Stallion Road, which was similarly made into a movie and introduced audiences to a woman named Rory (traditionally a male name) later in the ’40s.

Do you like the name Fiona? Would you use it?

Sources:

  • The Gay Sisters – TCM
  • Hanks, Patrick, Kate Hardcastle and Flavia Hodges. A Dictionary of First Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006.

How did “How Green Was My Valley” influence baby names in the early 1940s?

Richard Llewellyn’s 1939 novel How Green Was My Valley told the story of a Welsh coal-mining family during the late 19th century.

The story’s narrator was schoolboy Huw Morgan, eighth of nine* siblings, and the symbolic greenness of the valley referred to the fact that, over the course of the Huw’s life, the valley where he lived changed color from green to black due to the mining.

In 1940, How Green Was My Valley was the best-selling book of the year, and it won the National Book Award for fiction.

In late 1941, a Hollywood film based on the book was released. It was nominated for ten Academy Awards and ended up winning in five categories, including Best Picture.

Thanks to the book and the movie, two Welsh names (and one sort-of Welsh name) ended up appearing in the U.S. baby name data.

Angharad (Maureen O'Hara) in the 1941 film "How Green Was My Valley."
Angharad

Let’s go alphabetically, starting with Angharad (pronounced ahn-HAHR-ahd). In the story, Angharad (played by Maureen O’Hara in the film) was Huw’s older sister.

The name Angharad was a one-hit wonder in the data in 1943:

  • 1945: unlisted
  • 1944: unlisted
  • 1943: 5 baby girls named Angharad [debut]
  • 1942: unlisted
  • 1941: unlisted
  • 1940: unlisted

While the name didn’t catch on in the U.S., one name-book notes that it “has been strongly revived in Wales since the 1940s.”

The middle element of Angharad has the same root as the Welsh word caru, meaning “love.”

Bronwyn (Anna Lee) in the 1941 film "How Green Was My Valley."
Bronwyn

Next we have the names Bronwen and Bronwyn. The first appeared in 1941:

  • 1945: 10 baby girls named Bronwen
  • 1944: 8 baby girls named Bronwen
  • 1943: 9 baby girls named Bronwen
  • 1942: 8 baby girls named Bronwen
  • 1941: 7 baby girls named Bronwen [debut]
  • 1940: unlisted

And the second followed in 1942:

  • 1945: 20 baby girls named Bronwyn
  • 1944: 9 baby girls named Bronwyn
  • 1943: 10 baby girls named Bronwyn
  • 1942: 9 baby girls named Bronwyn [debut]
  • 1941: unlisted
  • 1940: unlisted

In the story, Bronwen/Bronwyn was Huw’s sister-in-law (the wife of his brother Ivor).

For the book, the name was spelled Bronwen, which is the traditional form of the name. It can be traced back to Welsh elements meaning “breast” (bron) and “white, fair; blessed, holy” (gwen).

But for the movie, the name was respelled Bronwyn, inexplicably. The film character Bronwyn (played by Anna Lee**) was typically called “Bron.”

Notably, one of the babies named after the character was Maureen O’Hara’s only child, Bronwyn, born in 1944. Her birth is likely what boosted the -wyn spelling ahead of the -wen spelling in 1945.

Which Welsh name do you like more, Angharad or Bronwen?

*The nine Morgan siblings in order were Ivor, Ianto, Davy, Owen, Gwilym Jr., Angharad, Ceridwen, Huw, and Olwen.
**Anna Lee’s five children were named Joanna Venetia, Caroline, John, Stephen, and Timothy.

Sources: