Dilwyn Jones (the one in Bethesda)
Bethesda, Maryland? Have you been defense contracting again?!?! Bad
boy!
If my name was Dilwyn, I'd visit foreign countries and pretend to be
mute.
I'd simply pass a calling card with "Dilwyn" printed on it, then
watch them
slaughter my name. I haven't decided if that would be masochism or
sadism...
Dave
Actually, neither's original, or one from the other AFAIK. It was
Hebrew originally. The US one might be named after the Welsh one if it
was a British immigrant who founded it, though I doubt it. In Wales,
Bethesda is a common name for a Christian chapel. It derives from the
Bible and means "House Of Mercy". Not that you'll ever get any here,
after the great Penrhyn quarry strikes of the early 1900s there are
still families here who don't speak because of that sorry period. Even
to this day, because of the A5 road passing through Bethesda on the
historic dividing line of the Penrhyn estate, to this day pubs only
exist on one side of the road! Now that's progress...
According to John Jones in his book "Welsh Place Names", 1996, "the
original place name of this village was Cilfoden. Its present name
derives from the Congregational chapel built there in 1819."
As for the US version, according to Wikipedia: It takes its name from
a local church, the Bethesda Meeting House (1820, rebuilt 1849), which
in turn took its name from Jerusalem's Pool of Bethesda.
Just blame it all on religion!
Dilwyn Jones
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