Who Am I?

I am /^|i:vəbəl/, a son of Eve … / a child of ANZAC …

My name, Evans, descends from an early memory – my father, telling me that the Bloody English stole our name when they usurped the old country. He made it EE-vfanzs like a war-cry, not the repressive-short E /ɛ/ and a /ə/ of English. That would be Ifans in the original language, not Evans.

This doesn’t mean I’ve changed my surname, or that I have more than one; just that my old man and I finally understand the long vowels and layered consonants of Welsh: in the international phonetic alphabet, /^|i:vænz/. The webpage URL encodes a long e = i and voiced v = f as in vans.

This is arguably the most natural pronunciation of Evans, which the English changed and shortened to their own taste. So yes, I am stealing back this lovely, bold, ancient name, and for a while I may have to be both. But call me Gaelen, ask me anything: michaelgifans@gmail.com

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