 He appears in the Old Welsh pedigrees of the Brythonic 'Men of the North' as the son of the equally obscure Meirchion Gul (Marcianus "the Lean") and father of the slightly better documented Urien Rheged.His name was well remembered however and his family were known as the 'Cynferchyn' in his honour.His unflattering epithet "Oer" probably means '(the) Unwelcoming' (literally 'cold').