Alan (given name) masculine given name in the Welsh language; although it is not directly related to "Alan" (it is derived from Proto-Celtic "*alouno-" meaning either "nourishing" or "wandering"), today it is generally used as a variant form of the English name. An earlier bearer of this name is Alun of Dyfed, a character in the "Mabinogion". The name became popular in modern times when it was adopted as a bardic name by John Blackwell, a 19th-century Welsh poet. The short form of "Alan" is "Al". This name is a short form of numerous other etymologically unrelated names that begin with this syllable.
Meredith (given name) as "Gruffydd" and "Bleidd[i]udd". However, in Middle Welsh (c. 1150s–1300s) the name was most commonly spelt as "Maredud" and "Maredudd"; "in Welsh, the accent is on the penult, and this leads at times to the elision of the vowel of the first syllable," producing an early variant "Mredydd", according to T.J. Morgan and Prys Morgan. Anglo-Norman scribes often used "e" for the first syllable and substituting the double "d" with a "th", producing "Mereduth". The forms "Meredith" and "Meredyth" are seen as early as the 14th century. In Medieval manuscripts, the name is frequently "disguised" in records produced by scribes