Old Welsh origin
Source-reportedFrom Old Welsh *Mailgun, itself from *Maɨlgun.
Sources for this account (2)
- Wiktionary: MaelgwnCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-15
- Polish Wiktionary: MaelgwnCC-BY-SA-4.0 · retrieved 2026-10-14
Opening name…
Opening name…
A name. A world of connections.
Old Welsh roots
Language context for this entry: Welsh
No sourced pronunciation yet
01 / Meaning & origin
Maelgwn is a masculine given name documented in Welsh. English Wiktionary traces it to Old Welsh *Mailgun.
From Old Welsh *Mailgun, itself from *Maɨlgun.
02 / Across borders
Explore published naming statistics and documented language connections around the world.
The name atlas
1
country in our sources
Select a country to follow Maelgwn’s connections around the world.
0 countries with published statistics. Language records show cultural connections; they do not measure how common a name is.
Selected country
Language records
Documented as a given name in Welsh.
Explore United Kingdom1 of 1 country
03 / By the numbers
Follow the spelling through the years, one published dataset at a time.
No official statistics are imported for this spelling. No statistical dataset covering this spelling has been imported yet. See data coverage.
04 / Through time
Passages quoted verbatim from public-domain reference works. They reflect the scholarship of their time, not current consensus, and may use obsolete spellings.
MAELGWN— “chief”
Maelgwn, or Maelgwas, was his successor in Powys and Gwynned, and is desperately abused by the indignant Gildas for all manner of crimes; while even Taliessin, who praises his beauty, rebukes his licentiousness. Three centuries later, a bard alleges that he hid himself in a wood, waylaid and carried off the wife of King Arthur. In the twelfth century, Caradoc, abbot of Llancarven, adds that Arthur besieged him in his castle, and had challenged him to single combat, when the…
Maelgwn, or Maelgwas, was his successor in Powys and Gwynned, and is desperately abused by the indignant Gildas for all manner of crimes; while even Taliessin, who praises his beauty, rebukes his licentiousness. Three centuries later, a bard alleges that he hid himself in a wood, waylaid and carried off the wife of King Arthur. In the twelfth century, Caradoc, abbot of Llancarven, adds that Arthur besieged him in his castle, and had challenged him to single combat, when the sage Gildas and the abbot of Glastonbury interposed, and obtained the lady’s restoration. Walter of Oxford adds that this Maelgwn reigned after King Arthur, and finally died of terror in a convent, having seen the Yellow Spectre, namely the plague, through the chinks of the church door. Dr. Owen Pugh further tells us, that Jack-in-the-Green, on May-day, was once a pageant representing Melva, or Melvas, king of the country now called Somersetshire, disguised in green boughs, as he lay in ambush to steal King Arthur’s wife as she went out hunting.
Yonge, History of Christian Names (1884), Part V, Chapter III (Gaelic Names), Section XII (Devotional Names) · Public domain (Project Gutenberg)
People recorded with this given name in Wikidata. Their names may use a different spelling, or include it as a middle or baptismal name.
6th-century Welsh monarch
A little story to keep
Take the story of Maelgwn with you. Create a personal name passport with its meaning, roots and connections.
06 / Behind the facts
Review status: Source-reported — no editorial review recorded yet. Last data change 2026-10-15.
Wiktionary text: CC BY-SA 4.0. Wikidata: CC0. Commons recordings retain their individual file licences. Complete attribution is available in each group above and alongside each chart.
