Mawr

Mawr is a Welsh toponym meaning great or large. It is used as a standalone place name in Wales and appears as a component in many Welsh locality names, often signaling the relative size, importance, or prominence of a settlement or landscape in historical records.

Etymology and usage: The term derives from the Welsh adjective mawr. In toponymy, mawr frequently describes physical features or the status of a place in relation to nearby settlements. It can appear in various compound forms and may experience orthographic mutation when combined with neighboring elements, following standard Welsh linguistic patterns.

Geographic distribution and examples: The element mawr is found across Wales, particularly in rural and Welsh-speaking regions. There are multiple locales associated with the name Mawr, and many others include mawr as part of a longer name. Because Welsh place names are often reused and extended, precise identification typically requires disambiguation by county or community. In some cases, Mawr functions as the complete name of a small village or hamlet; in others, it forms just one element within a longer geographical name.

See also: List of Welsh placenames, Mawr (disambiguation), Welsh toponymy.