Forest of Dean question

[zanooda2]

Does anyone know (Geoff?) where the name "Forest of Dean" comes from? I read that there are villages in the area with the name of "Dean" - West Dean, Little Dean etc. Is it because of them that the forest is called like this? I also remember reading somewhere that in this case "dean" comes from a word "dene" - "valley", I wonder if this is true, and if not, what else can the word "dean" mean here. I don't intend to translate "dean", I just need to decide what is the best way to call the name of this place in another language :-). Thanks,

zanooda