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In the last column, I mentioned a website that might help you create a Welsh name for your house. Here is one WSCO member’s experience.
Give Your Home a Welsh Name -- Jeanne Jones Jindra
Have you ever wanted to give your home a Welsh name like everyone does in Wales, but didn’t know how to go about it? I often envied those in southern Ohio who posted lovely little signs in front of their homes like “Maes Glas” for “Green Meadow” and “Bryn–teg” for “Fair Hill”, but feared choosing a name my Welsh friends might laugh at or find inappropriate. Thanks for a link on the BBC/Wales website, we can now choose an authentic Welsh name for our homes and even learn the correct pronunciation!
BBC/Wales has always been one of the Internet sites I’ve used in the past for updated and accurate information on Wales, from weather and current events to history and culture. The web address is http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/livinginwales/nameyourhouse. By removing the last part or even the last two parts of the address, you can visit just the BBC/Wales site to familiarize yourself with it, or you can go directly to the house name generator.
The first step in the “House Name Generator” is for you to choose up to three words and phrases that describe the area around your home. I chose “sunset”, “orchard” and “good views” since our new home has incredible sunsets and views and the fact that my husband is planning to plant another vineyard. This will weigh in heavily in our name choice so I must admit that I involved him in the process more that I usually would. Since he is of Welsh heritage by marriage, he has been somewhat reluctant to give our home an entirely Welsh name. With his background in wine and being a Francophile, he has suggested several French phrases for the estate. I have persisted though, and he has gradually come around to see the advantages of giving the place a Welsh name; the most important being keeping his wife happy.
The second step in the naming process is to chose up to three words or phrases describing the geographical features surrounding your house. I chose “woods” and “fields”. The third step asks you to choose a dominant color or colors for your home. I chose only green, but you have up to three choices. Based on your selections you are given between 10-25 name options in the final step. The name is also presented with a sound file that will link you to the actual pronunciation. Once you have chosen the appropriate Welsh name for your home, you are also given several choices for sign designs.
My top choices? “Bryn Dail” or “Hill of Leaves”, “Penglas” or “Top of the Field”, and “Tyn Rhos” or “House by the Moor”. That one is definitely out as we would be confused with the church of the same name. My preference was to use a name with “Pen” in it for “top” as one of my Welsh immigrants was David D. Jones, “Pen Twyn” for “End of the Top of the Hill”. He brought that name with him from Pen Bryn Parish, Cardiganshire, Wales in the 1820’s when he arrived in Gallia County, OH. His farm in Raccoon Township was then known as “Pen Twyn” and is still in our family to this day.
My husband prefers to use something with “Gwinllan” or “Vineyard”. This is a bit more complicated than I originally thought, due to his involvement, but since I wanted to actually use the Welsh name of our home I felt he should have some input. I liked “Y Winllan an y Bryn” or “Vineyard of the Hill” but again, he says that won’t sound right as a vineyard name on a wine label. We do finally agree to name our home “Gwinllan” to simplify the process. I can always add more descriptive Welsh words later.
If you want your home to have a Welsh name, try this soon while it is still active on the BBC/Wales site. Just take my advice -- if you want full control of the name choice for your home, don’t even think of involving your spouse.
Editor’s Note: Be sure to look for the WSCO’s Library column on the bottom half of page 10 to read a review of a book Jeanne recommends.
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In Spring 2009, the National Museum of Wales' "Davies" collection of impressionist and post-impressionist paintings - From Turner to Cezanne - will begin its 13 month tour of the USA in Columbia, SC.
Turner to Cézanne:
Masterpieces from the Davies Collection, National Museum Wales
March 06, 2009 - June 07, 2009
http://www.columbiamuseum.org/programs/exhibitions.php?exID=41
National Museum Wales, known for having one of the finest Impressionist art collections in Europe, is sending to the U.S. highlights from its remarkable Davies Collection, an extraordinary group of 19th- and early 20th-century paintings that is renowned for its beauty and quality. These works, which helped shape the course of Western art, were assembled between 1908 and 1923 by sisters Gwendoline and Margaret Davies. The collection features 53 stunning works of art, seen together in the United States for the first time. The exhibition will travel to only five venues and the Columbia Museum of Art is the opening venue.
2009 -- Oklahoma City Museum of Art, OK; Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY; 2010 – Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC; Albuquerque Museum of Art, NM