Re: Names - a plea

Steg Belsky wrote:

> I seem to remember that the Name Dictionary that me and my brother looked
> at when we were little said that _Alan_ is something (Gaelic?) for
> "handsome".
Well, that brings the number of doubtful etymologies I have found,
on and off this list, to an even half-dozen.  Furthermore, there
are at least two separate and distinct peoples called Alans/Alani.

So "Alan" means whatever you want it to mean, in practice.

--
There is / one art             || John Cowan <jcowan@...>
no more / no less              || http://www.reutershealth.com
to do / all things             || http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
with art- / lessness           \\ -- Piet Hein