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Baby names

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Original poster

Ellis & Cai proper welsh names or chavy?

191 replies

firefirejugdypantsonfire · 29/04/2018 15:25

I need a welsh boys name for DS3. My DH is welsh but never suggests anything. I'm English.

I want something shortish and that can be easily read by non welshies.

Are Cai & Ellis options or not really Welsh names ? Hmm

I quite like Euan / Ewan but is the welsh version Iuan ? As sure that would be said differently in welsh and in England ( where we live I guess it would end up as Ian)

In the family there is already Bryn, Gareth, Huw, Dylan, Rhys, Ianto

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TwigTheWonderKid · 03/05/2018 22:22

Thank you TheOriginalEmu I have to say it's a very appropriate name for DS2. He is quite a bright spark and very loud! I wonder if it was fate or if people juts live up to their names?

SirVixofVixHall · 03/05/2018 14:54

The ei sound in welsh names is very tricky for non welsh people, it is the e as in net sounded, running into the i as in thin. So it ends up somewhere between neigh and nye, but you should hear both vowels. Ieuan is difficult for non welsh speakers too. Also Rhys. The h is sounded, it isn’t Rees. Iwan has no y sound at the beginning, it is i as in in, followed by wan as in van.
I think you need something that English people won’t mangle, so that does leave names like Elis. (Please don’t call a baby Dai. It is short for Dafydd so it would be like calling a baby Dave or Steve) .
So Elis, Gareth, Morgan e.g. names with English vowels and not starting with I as in English that often turns into a Y.

TheOriginalEmu · 03/05/2018 14:29

I LOVE the name Taran. I know a couple and I think its great.

TheOriginalEmu · 03/05/2018 14:27

Dafydd pronounced....Davith

Nooo please don't have a child, call them Dafydd and pronounce it with a "th" at the end

to be fair, an english 'th' describes both the voiced 'th' in thing, and the de-voiced 'th' in with. the de-voiced with, is what you need for Dafydd.

spiderlight · 03/05/2018 13:53

Rhidian/Rhydian, Rhys, Huw, Evan, Morgan?

I know a lovely little Iwan and a couple of Ioans.

Thetimehascometo · 03/05/2018 09:45

Bryn even! Stupid autocorrect

Thetimehascometo · 03/05/2018 09:45

Bryan? Gethin?

Personally I love Rhys but looks like you can’t have that option ☹️

RestingBitchFaced · 03/05/2018 08:20

How about Ifan? Or Gwion?

readysetcake · 03/05/2018 08:10

how about Ceirion? I really like it but we have a C surname and I just don’t like the sound of C names with our surname.
Elis is our list. I really like it but DH not so keen.

o0o0 · 02/05/2018 13:14

I love the name Osian

TittyGolightly · 01/05/2018 23:49

I’m seeing lots of “old” English names come back too, like Elsie and Arthur and Oscar and Aubrey.

TittyGolightly · 01/05/2018 23:47

There’s a boy my daughter swims with called Emlyn. He’s 7.

SemperIdem · 01/05/2018 23:46

Bleddyn is a great name! I know a few, oldest is in his late 70’s, youngest a toddler.

Pimpinella · 01/05/2018 23:44

Cynlais Grin

SemperIdem · 01/05/2018 23:44

I know a toddler Emlyn, very cute little boy he is too.

IthinkIsawahairbrushbackthere · 01/05/2018 23:42

I love Iolo although it would probably be confused with Y-O-L-O and Illtyd but that isn't the easiest for English speakers. I wouldn't have thought of Cai as a Welsh name but it is from Arthurian legends.

I love Caradog, Cadwallader (my grandfather's name) and Guto.

Gwenhwyfar · 01/05/2018 23:37

Might be coming back into fashion, but it's just very 'old man' for me. I can see Gwilym more easily as a child's name.

TittyGolightly · 01/05/2018 23:34

I must disagree. My friend has the cutest toddler called Emrys.

TittyGolightly · 01/05/2018 23:34

I must te

Gwenhwyfar · 01/05/2018 23:33

Emrys and Emlyn are old men's names.

SemperIdem · 01/05/2018 23:30

TittyGightly

I thought so but I’ve never met an Aneirin in S.Wales to compare regional accents vs standard pronunciation.

I do think Aneirin pronounced ah-nay-rin is a great name.

TittyGolightly · 01/05/2018 23:27

Both adamant it is ah-nay-rin

They’re right.

SemperIdem · 01/05/2018 22:19

I’m a big fan of Iago but appreciate that it’s a name forever associated with a wrong ‘un.

Mike

Where are you with the pronunciation of Aneirin? My mother is fluent in Welsh, her father was first language Welsh (from North Wales in his case which will have influenced her though educated in South Wales Welsh speaking schools). Both adamant it is ah-nay-rin and Nye as nickname only exists because of English mangling when Aneirin Bevan was in power.

mypickleliesovertheocean · 01/05/2018 21:59

Dafydd pronounced....Davith

Nooo please don't have a child, call them Dafydd and pronounce it with a "th" at the end 😯

MikeUniformMike · 01/05/2018 21:24

Bran needs a circumflex on the a. It's pronounced like Bra but with an n on the end, and not like bran the stuff in All-bran. It means Crow. I wouldn't use it and definitely not if I already had a Bryn.

I don't know the name Orian but a quick search suggested it's a girl's name and not Welsh.

I wouldn't use Geraint. It's nice but I'd expect a Geraint to be in his 50s. A Geraint in England will get called Jer-ain't, Grant or Guh-runt.

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