Literary Characters Names, Mythological Names, French Names

English speaking countries

Morgaine is an early French form of the name of the Arthurian figure Morgan Le Fay. It is still an alternate name for Morgan le Fay, occasionally used in fiction, such as in Marion Zimmer Bradley's famous work "The Mists of Avalon".

Geoffrey of Monmouth, historical writer in the 12th century who put on paper the Welsh legend, used the name of "Morgen Le Fay" for his character of the legendary sorceress. Morgen is an Old Welsh male name, variant of the Old Irish Muirgen (now Muirín) probably meaning "sea-born". The French interpreted Morgen as Morgain, thinking it would best transcribe the pronunciation of the name. This became the standard French spelling of the character's name which later evolved to Morgaine by analogy with other French women's names ending in -e.
In the same way as Morgen became Morgain in French, Morgain was in time confused with the Welsh masculine name Morgan.
Morgane La Fée is the actual French form of her name.