Welsh boys names -help!

[Artigene]

DH's family are Welsh although he was born and raised in England. After lots of debate getting us to a shortlist of good English names DH now says he would like to use a Welsh name for our soon to be DS.

His first thought was Ioan. He pronounces it Jo-en but I think it might be more like Yo-en. Does anyone know?

He also likes Ivor shortened to Ivo. Is Ivor incredibly old fashioned in Wales? I am concerned it might be.

And finally what do people think of using a Welsh name when we are all London born and bred?

[CheeseStrawWars]

The Ioan I know is Yo-an. Often gets called Owen though, which is quite a popular name round here.

I don't think anyone would think anything of using a Welsh name in London, go for it... There are plenty to choose from but I couldn't inflict Ivor on a child, think of the nickname potential: "Ivor Biggun", "Ivor Hardon"... the playground will not be kind.

[AdmiralData]

Hello :D My friend has a two year old son called Ioan and she pronounces it yo-un although it does depend on your preference, if your husband prefers to pronounce it his way it shouldnt raise any eyebrows. :)

[specialknickers]

Another vote for Ioan, top name. I'd pronounce it yo-an as well though. But them I'm not a welsh speaker.

Ivor is a lovely name but could bit of a cross to bear unfortunately.

[13loki]

My Ioan is yo-un, but since we've moved to Sweden, he gets called Jo-an a lot.

[babe2be]

Just thought i'd respond as someone who lives in Wales. Ioan is pronounced Yo-an here in N Wales, it may possibly be pronounced Jo-an but i've never heard it. What about Owain? It's Welsh and still similar? or Iuean (said Ewan). Then again if DH likes it as Jo-an and you do too, then go with it.

There is no V in the welsh language, a single F is used instead, so Ivor would be Ifor (but pronounced the same as Ivor).

Cai (pronounced K-eye) is very popular at the moment. There are lots of names to choose from here WelshBoysNames

[spiderlight]

I'm Welsh: Ioan is pronounced Yo-an or Yo-un, not Jo-en.

[IncogKNEEto]

Ioan is lovely (I would say it yo-an too) how about Geraint? Gair-int (as in pint at the end) pronunciation I think but I'm not Welsh. I like Ifor too.

[mejon]

FFS - sorry for not pussy-footing around, but it isn't pronounced Jo-an and if your DH is, he's pronouncing it incorrectly. It is Yo-an and Yo-un at a push if you aren't a Welsh speaker. Similar names : Iolo (Yo-lo - short 'lo' not as in 'low'), Iwan (Ewan/Euan), Ianto.

No problem in giving your DC a Welsh name if you live in London - that there Lunnun is full of all nationalities so I'm sure no one will bat an eyelid.

[HoratiaWinwood]

I like David nn Dewi for a Welsh touch.

But choosing a Welsh name with no connections is a bit ... odd IMHO. We have no Welsh connections but a common Welsh surname, so we avoided Welsh names entirely lest people think we had pretensions.

[Beatrixpotty]

I think if you have Welsh connections on your DH side it is fine to use a Welsh first name if you want to.My DHs parents are Welsh and we have a common Welsh surname but I'm not & we have never lived in Wales.Had there been a Welsh name I had loved I wouldn't have thought twice about using itbut I didn't like any of my MILs suggestions

[foxy6]

I wanted to give ds a Welsh name but couldn't find any I liked so opted for Elis with 1 L for the Welsh version

[PickledInAPearTree]

I much prefer the proper yo-an pronunciation I know one and his mum calls him yoyo. Which is cute.

I really like the name.

A very popular name in Wales at the mo is osian. Osh-an.

Or how about something like Rhys (Reece) or Dylan (dul-an)

I really like ianto (yan-to) too.

You can see top names by region so tou could search for welsh ones.

I don't see too many Ivors but its old man chic everywhere now so why not I like it.

[Artigene]

I'd never thought about Ivor sounding like "I've a...". Food for thought there.

Yo-an pronunciation is nice. I like Iolo too, or Teifion. We have a very Welsh surname (no vowels!) so this little Londoner could sound very Welsh indeed.

[AntsMarching]

We used Welsh names for both our dds as my DH is Welsh. We had a boy's name picked out, but never got to use it.

The name we liked was Emlyn.

[Arithmeticulous]

Ianto (Yan-toe)
Idris
Ieuan

[PickledInAPearTree]

I love ianto but dp won't have it.

[LastDaughterofKrypton]

Cereth
Rhys
Caeo/Cael
Owen/Owain
Glyn
Urda
Llyr
Taliesin
Guto
Arwel
Arfon
Sion
Rhodri
Bryn
Eiron
Ceiron
(Ends battle with auto correct)

[deemented]

Aneurin. Nye for short.