No one can pronounce my baby's name!

@Scarydinosaurs, I don't say hair as Herr.

In small pockets of wales Cerys might sound like Care-iss or Ceri as Carey but that is purely accent. The 'air' sound isn't Welsh.

Care-iss sounds horrible but Kerris sounds nice. Teleri is pretty but not when said as Tel Airy.

@Feminist10101, it depends on the name. I doubt that many would struggle with Bianca but they might with Chiara or Giulia.

I’m Welsh. We gave our daughter an Italian name and a Welsh one. She goes to welsh language school. There are a few others with her Italian name. Know how many issues it causes? None.

Why on earth have you given your child a Welsh name when you're not even Welsh?! I don't get it. I am Welsh by the way, and I find it quite cringey! Be a bit like me giving my kid an Italian name.

Change it. Your child isn't going to thank you for it later on in life!

MikeUniformMike - I guess it depends on how you say hair? It’s all accent really.

But either way- break it into two and help them with the syllable they’re struggling with.

Cer doesn't rhyme with hair, Scarydino, it's like the Kerr in Kerry.

@Diverseopinions, there's no Z in welsh.

It could be Sioned which could shorten to Sian. More like Alys, and not shortening so much, but using Alice instead.
That is shortening Janet to Jane, and it wouldn't happen. You'ld shorten it to Sion (pr. Shon - short o)

Which bit do people get wrong? First or second syllable?

For example- if the name was Cerys you could say ‘Cer like hair’?

Those who are enjoying the game can carry on speculating but OP has made it really clear that divulging the name would compromise her privacy and that of her DD so they shouldn’t expect a resolution. Some MNers are satisfied with nothing less than blood.

It could be Sioned which could shorten to Sian. More like Alys, and not shortening so much, but using Alice instead.

Your posting name looks a good one to shorten to stop people getting it wrong, Zoya. Don't know if it's Welsh, but it's two syllables, said-as-see. Would it shorten to Zo or Ya, I wonder? Scope to get Zo (rhyme with low) and Zoy ( rhyme with toy, muddled). You're not OP name-changed to give us a hint are you? Destroying the peace of mind by not telling?

[quote Bewilderbeastie]@AugieMarch it's a Welsh name and so it's just totally new for most English speakers, so in this case it's not about people picking the pronunciation they are more familiar with. But we really didn't think people would find it as difficult as they have as, when we chose it, it seemed very straightforward and easy - in fact when people mispronounce they tend to add in all sorts of complicated extra letter sounds![/quote]
Had a feeling it would be. :)

She can't tell us the name because she's said the age of the DD (born this year) and that she's not in Wales, and that the manglings are making her cringe. She said the name is what you see is what you say.

If she said the name it would probably out her, or probably point to a handful of women.

I think she can either change it or persevere, or she and her DH and DD could move to Wales.

Anyway, OP I'm sure it is a lovely name for your little girl.

OP isn’t going to tell you the name, folks. Over two hundred posts trying to wear her down.

This has the top ones in Wales: www.britishbabynames.com/blog/top-names-in-wales/#:~:text=The%20%231%20names%20in%202019,and%20Oakley%2C%20Lara%20and%20Mabel.

Megan and Seren must be quite popular in England. Neither are remotely tricky, are they?

I only spotted 9 Welsh girls names in the E&W Top 500 names:

Megan at 183
Seren at 196
Nia at 305
Ffion at 338
Mali at 373
Eira at 448
Rebeca at 472
Alys at 475
Ela at 480

So if the OP is outside Wales chances are that the name is sufficiently unusual to be outing if revealed.

It must be odd if you can’t reveal it.

Is it Efa?

You do, but others don't. It's nice and as you say a very old name.

I'd say Cler as Clur. Cilla managed to make it Clu-urrr.

MikeUniformMike

Yeah, I know how to pronounce it. My dad's from Anglesey and my brother's name is even more welsh than mine is. I hate being called ree-ann-un. It just isn't my name. I say ree-ANN-on and I do expect people to do likewise. I don't do the welsh /rh/ because I'm not in Wales and it's not an English phoneme.

I doubt my parents would even know who Fleetwood Mac were, to be honest. My dad chose it because it's an ancient welsh name from the Mabinogion. It just happened to have the post Fleetwood Mac vogue at the same time!

I can't remember who said it but Claire isn't pronounced Cluurrr in Merseyside. Unless you're Cilla Black who just made a joke of it.

It's said as Cler.

@StopSchwaingMyName, lovely name but Ree Annun isn't.
Rhee-ANN-on is much better.
(The Rhee is sort of Ree and Hee said at exactly the same time)
Fleetwood Mac song.

Angharad said as Ann Garrud or Ann Harrud is a pet hate.
Someone once asked me why his neighbour always used her surname instead of just Ann. He thought she was Ms Harrod.
The ngh is tricky - ng is one letter not two and there isn't a g sound to it. Ang-HAR-ad. The name was made popular by Demelza in the 1970s Poldark.

NC for this!

My name is Rhiannon (one welsh parent; brought up in England). I don't even pronounce it properly, technically speaking, because I use an English /r/ at the beginning, not a welsh /rh/, but what really grinds my gears is people pronouncing it with an -un at the end, not an -on. I don't expect people to change their accent - I'm from the north, so I would expect a Fraaaancis from the south to put up with me calling them Frannncis - but English people are perfectly capable of saying /o/, even in non-stressed syllables. The reduction to schwa is a habit, not a necessity.

OP

Don't stress, people who care will make the effort, it might take time but they will get there.

I sometimes struggle with names, mix that in with working as a supply teacher, sometimes in areas with a high number of immigrants and occasionally on the Welsh boarder you can guess how often I've got names wrong.

There have been times when I have had 2 part time jobs and had the same spelling for different names in different places, eg Iona, Sian, Jose.

I have been known to do a victory dance when I have pronounced a name correctly on the third meeting.

@Bewilderbeastie, you seem to be experiencing a lot of anxiety.

I would suggest seeking to address this problem.

In the long run, your anxiety or frustration when someone mispronounces your DD's name will come to affect your DD. You need to show her an example of smiling insouciance when faced with people's attempts to say her name.

@CoffeeRunner my friend's girl is Deryn (we are in Wales), it's a unisex name derived from Aderyn

Best friend ! Not next friend...