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. Happy and joyful seem to be words that crop up in quite a few Breton and Cornish place names, but not in Welsh (it appears). There are a package of Breton place names whose derivation is far from obvious. As is usual when this happens, a saint is wheeled out (or invented) to provide an origin for the place name. Kerlouan, Poullaouen and Tréflaouénan are examples. St. Elouan is proposed as a patron for all three. Suggestions are that he must have been active in these parts (even though he does not seem to have been active in any other parts). His name is stretched to fit his etymological purpose and St. Elouan becomes Elwyn, Eloan, Louen, Luan, Louan, Elven, Elvan and Elonay. The saint in question appears to have had found...
The Origins and Place Names of Brittany