No one can pronounce my baby's name!

Some of the names look pretty but aren't and others don't particularly look pretty but are delightful. They sound unpleasant mispronounced (to me).

@Diverseopinions, Cariad is pretty awful as a name. It's the welsh word for Love, but it can also mean darling/sweetheart/charity/girlfriend/boyfriend.

There is a famous Cariad, and I've never heard her name said the welsh way. She's always announced as Carry-ad, but the word is pronounce Carr-yad. It is two syllables, but in welsh you say all the letters, and the language is phonetic. I particularly find the name strange because her surname can be a first name so it sounds like Lloyd's Girlfriend (or it would if the first name wasn't mis-said)

You wouldn't get a name like Careed because the stress always falls on the last but one syllable. If Careed was welsh it would be written Carîd.

The rules are very simple, but only a few names are bulletproof.

I think OP posted that it was two syllables. Anwen would fit. Would Cariad be pronounced as two syllabic: like Car eed?

All very pretty names.

Dafydd causes issues - I often see it written as Daffyd.

Wen and Wyn are often mixed up - a relative has a wen name and often gets a wyn version - wen is female and wyn male. Bronwyn is often suggested as a Welsh name but it's Bronwen.

Cariad would make sense as to an English eye Carrie would be a natural shortening. It could also be Eleri, Elin or Elen - to an English eye Ellie is an option. Same with Aneira, Anwen and Angharad* but with Annie.

I know the letters in Angharad are:
A Ng h a r a d
But to an English speaking eye Annie would look logical.

Or exetra for et cetera, and ect instead of etc.

Vowels get transposed in welsh names. Clwyd written as Clywd, Dilys as Dylis, Gwyneth as Gywneth and so on.

Nuclear/Nucular is a good one, and some educated people get it wrong.

At school we were corrected if we said something wrongly and would not have got away with haitch (aitch), arz (ours), reckernize (recognise), seckitary (secretary), joolery (jewellery) etc.

I just can't understand why people get these wrong, but they do, and there are people who will struggle with names they haven't seen or heard before.

Some words seem to attract mispronunciation like a magnet. 'Belgian' is often pronounced 'Belgium', and 'nuclear' as 'nucular', yet the correct forms are not difficult. There must be an explanation, but I don't know what it is. I even feel myself veering toward 'Belgium' for 'Belgian', I guess just because of the frequency of the other way of saying it.

You do get names spelt phonetically - Nansi, Anni, Jên, Elsi and so on.

I think that maybe OP's baby is Cariad (I'll spare my opinion on the name just in case).

Is Tierney a Welsh name
No. It is almost unpronounceable in Welsh.
If it was welsh it would be written Tiyrni, which looks odd.

Is Tierney a Welsh name, I wonder? It's a name which could be shortened to Tia. It has the potential to gain vowels in the pronouncing.

I have an unusual name that no one has ever pronounced correctly on first attempt. It has often taken 2 or 3 attempts.

I hated it as a child, as I was shy and it always drew attention to me. However, as an adult I love it. There is never an awkward silence when I meet new people cause there is always something to talk about. People always remember it and me because of it and I never use my last name.

@Diverseopinions, Lois is written as Lois but a welsh-speaker would say it as one syllable to rhyme with Joyce, but otherwise it is pronounced Lo-is.

I'm not sure how you'd get the Lo-is sound in Welsh - Lôis maybe, but it looks wrong.

A lot of the biblical names sound quite different in welsh, some look different too.

Examples are Jacob (JACK-ob), Daniel (DAN-yell), Deborah (Deb-O-rah), Isaac (ISS-ac), Abraham (AB-ra-ham), Gabriel (GAB-ree-el), Cain (Kine), Abel (ABel), Amos (AM-os), Martha (MARRTH-a), Eli (Elly)

The ones that look different are ones like Adda, Efa, Mair, Ioan, Luc, Andreas, Pedr.

Must be tricky if you're a teacher.

This is terribly interesting about roots of Welsh names. Thank you Mike and CaffiSalliMali.

I think it's hard to get the annunciation right when a name is pronounced as one syllable, like Lois (Loyce)( and other pronunciations, maybe) but the y create a little pause before the next bit while your tongue adjusts, and it makes it sound like two syllables.

But Loyce or Louis wouldn't shorten to one syllable and to make a traditional name. I can't help thinking that OPs baby name might have started with Beth or Meg or Kate and then an unusual ending.

Oops, sorry I should have said The only welsh (and scottish) name that I can think of with two correct pronunciations is Iona.

@bridgetreilly, it's very popular in Wales and pronounced Loyce there.
It's a biblical name, so not Welsh.

The only welsh (and scottish) name with two correct pronunciations is Iona.

Lois isn't strictly welsh

It's not Welsh at all. It's a Greek name (biblical, too) and it is two syllables: Lo - iss.

@Diverseopinions, Ysbail means spoil or loot so it's a very strange suggestion for a person's name. Torlan is a perfectly OK house name.

As CaffiSaliMali posted, the welsh name lists have suspect suggestions.

Gwyn is a boy's name and, to my knowledge, the only girl's name that starts with it is Gwyneth.

A lot of Welsh name lists online have some very suspect names on them. Artaith (torture) and Olwyn (wheel) for example.

I haven't heard of Ysbail before. It looks like a cross between Isabel/Ysabel, Iseult/Yseult, Esyllt and Eseld (the latter two are Welsh and Cornish for Iseult respectively).

There is a directory of names which features Ysbail and Torlan.

It could be a name starting with Gwyn - .

Ysbail is a new one on me , and Torlan is a placename (riverbank)

It will be character building for her! You have to keep it! She'll learn to stand up for herself.

Idelle isn't welsh.

I have a feeling that it is Lois but that's not 2 syllables. Lois isn't strictly welsh, but it is very popular and is pron. Loyce not Lo-is. Same with Leah - Ley-a not Lee-uh.

The welsh names only have one way of saying them, so I'm stuck, and the only ones that I can think of with a rhyming word is Carys and Paris, Mali and Malley, Mari and Marry, Cadi and Caddy.

Bethan, Seren etc don't really rhyme with anything, other you could anglicise them to 'Bethany without the y' or 'rhymes with Derren, like Derren Brown'

Maybe they're saying Mary rather than Mari (pronounced marry)?

I was going to ask if you used the typical spelling and maybe that was the issue, then I read it's Welsh. I'm Welsh so this isn't a racist dig! It's probably the Welsh spelling! You just have to be obstinate and correct every time.

If it's Ysbail or Torlan, they are quite difficult to say when you hear the guy's voice annunciating them . It's an unusual name, so not Gaenor, presumably.

It could be Idelle - and people keep putting an 'a' at the end. But sometimes the tongue just wants to jump on to another sound, before going to rest. Delle would be the shortened version.

Looking at those Welsh name lists, some with vocalised pronunciation available, there aren't many really easy, really phonetic say-as-see names ,which would shorten to something good and name-like. Surely it would be an Elle, Lily type of short bit. Dilwen would be good, but Dil's a bit of an imperfect sounding whole name.