Urian


Urian is a Celtic noble male given name. It is recorded in 1273 in the Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire in a reference to a "John, son of Urian". In the twelfth century Geoffrey of Monmouth used the latinized form Urbianus for the semi-legendary British king Urien.
In the modern period, it also occurs as a surname, as Urian.

In German literature

In early modern Germany the expression Herr Urian or Meister Urian denotes a proverbial unwanted guest and figures in works of fiction such as Matthias Claudius' Urians Reise um die Welt, in the Walpurgisnacht scene of Goethe's Faust, eine Tragödie, where it refers to the devil, and E.T.A. Hoffmann's The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr.
A few more recent title characters occur in: