Arwen

Literature, Sindarin
"noble maiden"

Arwen Origin and Meaning

The name Arwen is a girl's name of Welsh origin meaning "noble maiden".

Arwen is well known as princess of the Elves in Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The author took inspiration from Welsh for many of his character names, and indeed Arwen and its masculine counterpart Arwyn do have a modest history of use as legitimate Welsh names, deriving from the -wyn suffix ("fair, blessed") plus an intensifying prefix.

Trivia tidbit: The International Astronomical Union names all colles (small hills) on Saturn's moon Titan after characters in Tolkien's work; in 2012, they named a hilly area "Arwen Colles" after Arwen.

# 223 on Nameberry

Arwen Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Arwen Popularity

Famous People Named Arwen

  • Arwen Arabella "Bella" HardyEnglish folk singer
  • Arwen Estelle Williamsdaughter of reality TV personalities Rhonda and Brady Williams of "My Five Wives"
  • Arwen Lucinda "Lucky" Giles (b. 2019)daughter of actress Caterina Scorsone and musician Rob Giles
  • Arwen Humphreysactress

Arwen in Pop Culture

  • Arwenelf princess in Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings series
  • Lana Arwen Lazarcharacter from book series Gone.
  • The Arwyn spelling is strictly masculine in Wales.
  • Originally a Welsh namewhich came into use at the end of the 19th century , derived from the Welsh intensifying prefix ar, + gwyn "white." Its adoption may have been influenced by the old Welsh name Arianwen.