What's an Eyon

What's an Eyon?

It's not Japanese, even though it was my Japanese grandfather who passed this name on to his descendants. His name originally was Yamasaki, but he changed it -- and, somehow, his children didn't learn the origin of Eyon.

The uncertain facts are (1) my grandfather adopted the name of the family who took him in when he immigrated to the U.S and (2) that family immigrated from the UK.

Only recently, on the Web, have I found other instances of the name,

I learned that the Scots use Eyon is a variant of Ian (according to Kate Monk's Dictionary of Names, http://www.gaminggeeks.org/Resources/KateMonk/England-Firstnames/Variants/Celtic-Male.htm).

I found a handful of people with the same family name, going back to the 1600s in the UK and in early America.

There's an English novel from the late 1800's entitled Miss Eyon of Eyon Court by Katherine Marquand.

So, the evidence is mounting. The source of our name might be Celtic Britain.

It was a great relief to me to have discovered this much. The mystery of it seems to have affected me even though it is only a name. It was if I had been adopted and came to learn of my real parents.

My quest is not over, however. I’m still looking for the family who took-in my grandfather — around San Francisco, around 1900.

By the way, we pronounce it the way most people pronounce "eon" (joke: That’s a very long name!)

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