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| J.R. Weguelin (1849-1927), The Mermaid Discovered |
'I have heard the mermaids singing, each to each. I do not think that they will sing to me.' –T.S. Eliot
On various lists here and there, this fanciful fairytale name is explained as '"mermaid" in Cornish.' It appears to lack history of use as a given name – I've yet to find a single Morvoren or Morveren, from Cornwall or anywhere else* – but lest ye forget, until recently, 'modern classic' Lorelei was simply the German name for a rock in the Rhine and the legendary Rhine Maidens associated with it. Like Germany's Lorelei and the similar Sirens of classical mythology, a morvoren was a thing to be feared; but even if the Cornish regarded their mermaids as omens of bad luck, '[believing] they could take such shapes as suited their purpose, and that they had often allured men to live with them,' this makes for an intriguing, whimsical moniker, similar in feel to established names like Morvern and Morven, and boasts a sufficiently colorful back-story.
