Volume Twelve - Pre-Victorian to the Present Day - further aspects - Random Rants, Notes and Articles No.2 . .

The first syllable is probably the Celtic stream-name Ki, which occurs in several places in the county as well as elsewhere, e.g., Nant-y-ci (Nantkhi, twelfth cent, Cart. Glam,), a small tributary of the Ogmore near Blackmill, above Bridgend. the little brook which runs down through the dingle at Penarth was, no doubt, called the Ki, though, as often happened to small streams, its name has disappeared. The Kymin would mean "the mouth of the Ki." - Cardiff Naturalists' Society - Transactions Vol. LII [1260] 1919-1923.

Early Cardiff - . . . Most of our local Celtic names in the earliest records are Welsh forms which have withstood alien influence and remain permanent witnesses of that tongue. Such are the names of the ancient ecclesiastical foundations, e.g., Llandaff, containing Welsh llan, originally meaning "enclosure" and later "church," with the name of the river Taff ; and Llandough, having the name of a Welsh saint. Instances of other types are Penarth, Welsh pen, gardd "the end of the high land," and Dinas Powis, dinas "fort," and powis, an element found also in the better known North Wales name Powys, for which no satisfactory derivation has been advanced. - Cardiff Naturalists' Society - Transactions Vol. LII [1260] 1919-1923.

If the derivation above of Penarth, Welsh pen, gardd "the end of the high land," is correct would somebody please tell the 'elders' of the town that their 'Head of the Bear' or 'Bear's Head' Coat of Arms is perhaps an incorrect interpretation of arth, or bear! Bears in Penarth seem somewhat fanciful, but as Penarth Head is in fact the abrupt end of the high-land which stretches for some miles inland, well, my money is on the above derivation being the most logical and accurate translation!