Morphology: man+moel
Phonetic: man-moyle
The modern meaning of this is "bare place", referring to the location of the village high above the Ebbw and Sirhywi valleys and conforms to the methods used to name places in Wales. There is however, an original meaning for the area that has roots back to the 12th Century, where a church was founded in the area for a follower of St Cadog, named Macmoil. "Mac" is the Irish form of "son of" ("mab" in Welsh) and over the centuries, variations in the spelling have led to some confusion, with the modern Man-moel being an attempt to explain earlier meanings. The original meaning was more likely to have been "the place associated with St Macmoil". Various spellings over the centuries include Ecclesia Mac moilo c 1200, Mapinoil or Mapmoil 1330, developing into Melyn Van Hoell (meaning Melin Fan-moel), Mamm Howell 1630 and Mamhole in 1653. Shown as Pentre Man Moel in 1833 on a map of Monmouthshire by Thomas Moule.