Alternatives to Anwen?

Seriously don’t worry about your parents dismissing your names as old granny names - both mine have them, along with the quarter of the playground! My DM said ‘Oh. Yuck’ to both .. but then given what she called me and my sister, she had a nerve!

Anwen is really lovely - no whiff of old lady in the least! Arwen is nice too but I think outside of Wales, people might take you for LOTR geeks. Wouldn’t worry too much about the same initials stuff, three of us in this house do, no biggy.

Firstly, you clearly need to think up a new supercool fashionable name to tell your parents. Preferably several, so they start to think that perhaps "classic" (old-fashioned, fuddy-duddy) names might not be so bad after all...

Anwen is really pretty but like some pp I would worry about two Miss A [Jones] in one house. Might get a bit fraught with teens opening each other's post.

Catrin is lovely. I also like Branwen and Elen (but no one will spell that right), Madlen and Marged.

Eleri - dated, middle-aged
Dilys - dated, granny name
Emlyn - boy's name
Enid - ENN-id not Ee-nid. Very old name.
Gwendolyn - Gwendolen
Guinevere - not welsh, Gwenhwyfar or Gaenor
Idelle - - not welsh
Rhiannon - don't like it anglicised
Wynne - not welsh, Wyn is a boy's name.

Emlyn is a Welsh boys name, not a girls name. Gwendolyn should be Gwendolen, gwen-DOL-en (in Welsh the emphasis is on the penultimate syllable). The anglicised version, Gwendoline, tends to be pronounced gwen-duh-lin.

Guinevere in Welsh is Gwenhwyfar, I suspect that one will be tricky for OP's inlaws to pronounce

I don't think Idelle is Welsh. To an English eye it looks like 'ih-Dell'. In Welsh Ll is a letter in it's own right so Idelle wouldn't work in Welsh, the pronunciation would be very different with the aspirated L sound of Ll.

Eleri is lovely, a bit old fashioned but nice and it fits in the the trend for 'El' names and for short, vowel heavy names. It may be incorrectly rhymed with celery, instead of Terry, but isn't difficult to learn once told.

OP - I think Elin or Elen would go well with Alys. Plus Mari which is currently top of my list.

Menna. So pretty, and easy to say in both Welsh and English!

Here are names I suggested on another post
Eleri
Dilys
Emlyn
Enid
Gwendolyn
Guinevere
Idelle
Rhiannon
Wynne

Can you not just stick with Anwen but try to make the nickname Annie stick?

Glad I fell on this thread. My DH is pushing for Arwen for our DD but I'm resisting as I'd never heard it before, despite being Welsh. Now I learn it's from Lord of the Rings! Crafty bugger kept that to himself.

OP, the name Anwen has been around for a long time which is why some people might think it old-fashioned. I was in school with a few (I'm late thirties so not THAT old) and while I live abroad these days, I'm fairly sure there are some younger ones still around my hometown. If you like it, go for it! It's as Welsh as they come, pronounceable to non-Welsh speakers and both you and your DH like it. That sounds good enough to me!

Meanwhile, I'm off to persuade DH that Gwenllian is a far better choice than Arwen

I have a Welsh name so not sure why people who don't have Welsh names think they're an authority on this, clearly my experience of having one has been largely positive or I wouldn't consider similar names for my own DC.

My list of names gets Welsher each time I get one of those comments

How very dare you suggest that Australians wouldn't know how to pronounce it!
[Flounce].

Afryl - not welsh, just Avril written phonetically.
Blodwen - too old fashioned
Eilir - boy's name
Lilwen - made up name
Medwen - real name for a September-born girl. Dated.
Telyn - not a name, just the word for harp
Tegan - no. It's the word for a toy.
Tesni - yes

Please ask your in laws to pronounce Buddug and report back

Really only 77 Megan's in the whole of wales in 2017? At least half of those must be in my DD's nursery...

Afryl
Blodwen
Eilir
Lilwen
Medwen
Telyn
Tesni

@MikeUniformMike literally it means greenness but 'glesni' has always meant purity, clarity, limpid-ness. Never greenness.

@devildeepbluesea, Glesni is greenness.

@DrowsyDragon, I'd say use Anwen apart from the A initial. It is quite popular and it is simple to say and spell.

Elinor is nice in a welsh accent, but it isn't welsh.

Catrin is a classic name, that is also easy to live with and won't date badly and it goes well with Alys. I like Alys very much.

Awel is a bit dodgy as it means Breeze.

Buddug will not work for you, sorry, I think it's lovely.

I really like the name Anwen but I would avoid another A name just for practical reasons. You will have two Miss A s in your house which will make post awkward.

I know an Eirwen which I think is lovely

I like Anwen.
Elinor is my favourite, though.

If you like Anwen then use it, I think it's lovely.

Other suggestions:
Awel
Awen
And my particular favourite, Glesni (means purity). Pronounced Gless-nee

Well who knew... (MikeUniform Mike! )....I did have a little Google myself and it did come up under 'Welsh boys' names'....so it's German too...as you say a lot of names are kind of half invented. .

And Mike uniform....'Buddug' really? Once I told my kids it was the worst Welsh girls name I had ever heard and they insisted on calling me that fir the next two years. ....

And Betsan sounds like a make of portable loo tbh or possibly lavatory cleaner.