I know that, according intuitive modern spoken English, and therefore the most frequently heard, it’s guh WAYNE. But an Arthurian scholar, writer of books and junk, Ph.D., told me it was actually GOW @n (@=schwa). To rhyme with plowin’. He told me this was determined by analyzing rhymes in Chaucer and things like that.
I need conclusive cites, if there is such a thing. Google gets me a 50-50 sampling.
I can’t find anything conclusive, either - my googling seems to show that both pronunciations are acceptable - but FWIW, my English Lit teacher in college declared that GOW-@n was correct.
Huh. I heard that it was an alternate spelling of “Gavin” and should be pronounced that way.
But…but…
According to the PBS show “Between the Lions,” it’s pronounced to rhyme with “Wayne” only with a ‘G’ at the beginning.
“Gawain’s Word, Gawain’s Word, Party On, Excellent!!”
It’s educational television, right?
Otherwise, I got nuttin’.
Hmm. There are a good handful of folks back home in NB who have this as a last name; it’s pronounced GOW @n, as in the OP. I have no idea how it would be pronounced as a first name, though. If I ever encountered it, I’d pronounce it “Gowan” unless corrected.
My medieval lit teacher used to pronounce it GOW-ayne.
Well, all I can say is that this seems to be a necessary thread - there are almost as many pronunciation options as there are posters, so far.
Who can help fight the ignorance here? It surely isn’t going to be me…and we clearly need cites!
I’ve always heard it pronounced “Gow@n.”
Back in highschool, we pronounced it G’WAY-in.
No cite, that’s just how we said it.
I know a Welsh Gawain, and he pronounces it GAH-win, sort of like Gavin, but with a “w” and more stress on the first syllable.
I suppose if you substitue an American accent for his Welsh one, it would become “Gowin” to rhyme with “plowin”.
Another cite for GAHwayne: my 11th grade English teacher. I like GOW@n better myself.
Yet another completely anecodotal cite: my eldest brother was into literature and told me it was pronounced “GOW-in”. (In fact, he downright scolded me for pronouncing it Gah-WAIN.) I assume some professor told him that.
Ok. Pardon my ignorance. Where is NB? Sorry to sound so damn nosey but I’m wondering if NB has a large Welsh population.
I’m going to kick myself when you tell me, huh?
I believe that’s New Brunswick. No info about about its Welshiness, though.
I was also taught in college that it was GOW @n. I can give you cites from Google, but my professor was much more reliable a source.
Ima’ Gawain totha stoah now.
It’s pronounced mangrove throat-warbler. The correct spelling is “Raymond luxury yacht.”
Well I’m glad that most of you seem to agree with me, of course. There’s a first time for everything! 
But see the thing is, I’m in a writing group, and one of us is writing this Arthurian thing, and he says “guh WAYNE.” I corrected him. I was jumped on by the rest of the group, told that I was nuts. It’s seven to one against the TRUTH!!! (A position that is not unfamiliar to me, of course.)
I need cites! I need enought authority to rub seven noses in!
Ooh, I didn’t know they spoke Gullah as far west as Texas! Cool.
I have about 3,265,857 books of Arthurian Literature at home. Most of them concur with Gow@n.