Programmes from the early festivals state that "Yn Cruinnaght Vanninagh Ashoonagh is held under the auspices of The World Manx Association and The Manx Gaelic Society in commemoration of our great National Poet and with the object of preserving national sentiment." The "great National Poet" referred to is Thomas Edward Brown (1830–1897) whose poems, including lengthy verse-stories in Manx dialect (of English, though with some Gaelic words), were published by Macmillan.
Thomas Jefferson | Brown University | James Brown | Thomas Edison | Gordon Brown | Thomas | Chris Brown | Thomas Hardy | King Edward VII | Edward I of England | Edward III of England | Thomas Mann | Thomas Aquinas | Clarence Thomas | Thomas Gainsborough | Edward VIII | Edward VII | Dylan Thomas | Thomas Pynchon | St. Thomas | Prince Edward Island | Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex | Edward III | Edward | Saint Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands | Edward Heath | Edward G. Robinson | Edward Albee | Edward Elgar | Brown |
Significant figures published in Mannin include: T. E. Brown, John Ruskin, Archibald Knox, W. H. Gill, A. P. Graves, George Borrow, Josephine Kermode, P. M. C. Kermode, William Boyd Dawkins, Mona Douglas, Edward Forbes, William Cubbon and W. Walter Gill.