Rhun is a Welsh Masculine given name meaning "Great, Mighty". Variants of the name are; Rhûn, Rhyn and Rhŷn.

One origin of the name appears to start from the Welsh names for Rome and Roman (as a person), Rhufain and Rhufon, leading to Rhun as "the proper name of a man" and Rhyon as a soldier.^[1]

Rhun in literature

The story of The Dream of Rhonabwy in the 12th century Red Book of Hergest is a prose literary tale where the main character travels to the time of King Arthur in a dream. There he sees famous men from many historical eras. In a passage where 24 knights arrive to seek a truce with the famous Arthur, Arthur considers the request by assembling his counselors where "a tall, auburn, curly-headed man" was standing. Rhonabwy asks who he is, and is told that he is Rhun ap Maelgwn Gwynedd, a man who may join in counsel with anyone, because there was none in Britain better skilled in counsel than he.^[2]

Marwnad Rhun (English: Elegy of Rhun), once believed to be the work of Taliesin but no longer accepted as such, laments Rhun's death in battle during that war with the North.^[3]

Rhun, son of Maelgwn, appears in two of the medieval Welsh Triads, as one of the 'Fair Princes of the Isle of Britain', and as one of the 'Golden-banded Ones of the Isle of Britain'.^[4]

Rhûn also appears as a realm in the East of the map in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings^[5]

List of bearers

• Rhun Hir ap Maelgwn (died c. 586), king of Gwynedd
• Rhun ab Urien, (Born c. late 6th, early 7th century) Prince and son of Urien, king of Rheged
• Rhun ab Arthgal, (born c. 9th century) king of Strathclyde
• Rhun ab Owain Gwynedd (died 1146), son of Owain Gwynedd
• Rhun ap Iorwerth (born 1972), Welsh politician

References