What's in a Name?

There's a Rees Street in Aberafan, connected to me only in my dreams! It's probably named after the owner of the land the street was built upon: John David Rees. Blodwen Street, nearby, is likely to have been named after his daughter. 

Land and landmarks named for owners, benefactors and people who lived there are pretty common. The name of Port Talbot itself is a constant reminder of the Talbot family of Margam Castle.

You can see the reverse of that idea, people named for the place where they live, in Margam Abbey Church graveyard. On one small stone pressed into the grass: Thomas Margam, died 1838, aged 27 years. Another headstone, to the left of the entrance gates, commemorates the brief life of Mary-Ann, the daughter of Moses and Elizabeth Margam.  

The name Margam was given to foundling babies: children abandoned at the Abbey for reasons only their mothers can truly know, though I imagine that poverty, shame and social exclusion would have been principal catalysts. And perhaps too, wanting the best for your child and giving it in the only way you knew.

It reminds me how little the human emotional experience has changed over centuries. We love, we lose, we grieve. We survive. 

Sources
REES, Arthur, Some Street and Place Names of the Port Talbot District, Port Talbot Historical Society 2004
EVANS, A Leslie, Margam Abbey, first published 1958, 2nd edition published by Port Talbot Historical Society 1996