Piran, means wisest amongst the wise ones. -- novzar 7/10/2005. St. Pirin, believed born in the 4th or 5th century. Legend has it St.Piran was thrown from the cliffs of Ireland by chieftains, he floated across the Celtic sea on a millstone, to land at Perranporth beach and built an oratory.He charmed people and discovered how to smelt tin by lighting a fire from which the hot black stone gave forth a stream of white liquid.He lived for 200 years and met his end by falling down a well, drunk. (Eileen Carter) In the Shadow of St Piran. Several spellings of the name: Piran, Pirrin, Perran and Peran.Said to be derived from Peter, the rock.s mentioned on Wikipedia: This was due to the widely recognised ability of the P-Celtic or Brythonic letter 'P' to transform into the Q-Celtic or Gaelic letter 'C'. And as Cornish is a 'Brythonic' Celtic language whilst Irish is a 'Gaelic' Celtic language, that certainly makes sense.