Update: Quimper-Vannes has moved to a new site: https://quimpervannes.substack.com/ This Blogger site is now an archive. New articles, extracts and launch news for the English edition and French translation will appear on Substack. In Brittany there are a series of communes which carry the name Noyal: Noyal Pontivy (Morbihan); Noyal-sous-Bazouges , Noyal-Châtillon-sur-Seiche, La Noë-Blanche (Ille-et-Vilaine); and Noyal (Cotes d'Armor). Most French and Breton writers assume the name is connected with the Gaulish: nauda , ‘wetland’, 'marsh' [Old French: noue ]. Examples elsewhere in France include Nods (Franche-Comté), Noé (Midi-Pyrénées) and Les Noës (Aube). A further group derive the name from Gaulish: novio , 'new' and Gaulish: ialo , 'clearance, 'clearing'. However, there is a saint whose name fits nicely. St. Newlyn East, Cornwall All these Breton place names could recall a 6th century Cornish saint who appears in the chronic...
The Origins and Place Names of Brittany