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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Welsh name experts help!!

89 replies

RWeatherwax · 01/10/2020 20:59

Hi all!

Help me settle a debate here. We both really like the name Celyn. However, we are stuck whether it is a girls name or a boys name! To me it’s a boys name and I’m from West Wales. DH is from the North and says it’s a girls name! What’s your opinion?

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MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 21:47

That's quite an accusation, RWeatherwax.

Use a number if you like. How about Pump for a boy and Tri for a girl.

Original poster
RWeatherwax · 04/10/2020 21:34

Mike people like are you are the reason that more people don’t speak Welsh. If that gives you kicks love then carry on. You do this on every baby name thread, particularly those related to Welsh names and, if everyone abided by your ‘rules’ when naming children I’m sure we’d have all wound up with numbers by now.

OP posts:
PuntoEBasta · 04/10/2020 21:29

Really?

MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 21:12

I go by how it sounds and looks RWeatherwax,and the meaning.

If you like it use it. I'd probably think it a bit strange if you named your DC Menai or Clwyd if you had no connection with the area, but otherwise they are nice names.

Wrth gwrs, dylwn ni ddim, on fi ydwi ac mi wnaf

"Diolch pawb am eich barn."

Nos da.

Original poster
RWeatherwax · 04/10/2020 21:06

Diolch pawb am dy farn Smile Mae’n ddefnyddiol iawn.

OP posts:
LittleEsme · 04/10/2020 20:59

I realise that I'm a bit late to this.
Rwy'n flin! Grin

First language Welsh here also - love traditional Welsh names.

LittleEsme · 04/10/2020 20:56

Celyn is a girls name. Never heard of it on a boy.

I'm in South Wales.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 04/10/2020 20:55

Merch

Original poster
RWeatherwax · 04/10/2020 20:53

So noun names are ok if they are someone that you happen to know? Right ok... Hmm

OP posts:
MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 20:51

Llinos is fine - I know several, Deri - can't get past Pobol y Cwm and Derriboots, Ffion fine - I know several, Hedd - fine, Hedydd -not sure. Eos is nice, if a little unusual.

River names are generally ok, although usually as a middle name, and depends on the rivername.

Original poster
RWeatherwax · 04/10/2020 20:25

Bit awkward that Mike considering Welsh is my first language... Confused

How does Llinos grab you? Considering that means linnet? Or is that not a name either? Deri? Ffion, Hedd or Hedydd? If I took out every Welsh name that was also a noun, my pool of names that I actually like would be even more minuscule than it currently is.

OP posts:
MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 20:23

Maybe they do, but nobody I know.
The ones I know seem to go for old names.

If you like it, use it. I suppose if you can call your child Snowdrop why not Holly. I suppose I can't see the name for the trees.

Gwern is a boy's name. It means alder.

PuntoEBasta · 04/10/2020 20:03

Except that they do, Mike. I’m personally acquainted with two of them. Lots of mother tongue Welsh speakers choose modern Welsh names.

MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 19:04

It's a modern name, noun names being more popular nowadays.
I don't see it as the sort of name a mother tongue Welsh speaker would give their child.

FizzyGreenWater · 04/10/2020 15:54

Slightly more girl than boy. Bit made up!

MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 10:59

@SeanCailleach, quite possibly. Do you have a link to the story, please?

Nisien and Efnisien are good names for twins.

outwest · 04/10/2020 10:58

Was brought up in/live in West Wales. Have never met a Celyn, either boy or girl, but do like the sound of it as a name, though "feels" more female to me, don't know why that should be.

SeanCailleach · 04/10/2020 10:52

@MikeUniformMike in z middle Welsh the spelling can be a bit free form It's almost as if the scribes were making it up as they went along Wink

MikeUniformMike · 04/10/2020 10:48

twin boys called Haf and Gef - I'm not familiar with that story but Haf is used as a girl's name and the word for winter is Gaeaf, so nothing like Jeff, but it isn't used as a name AFAIK.

Celyn as a noun is masculine.

Eirlys seems a bit frumpy to me. Quite nice meaning, but the sound isn't pretty, and it seems a bit grannyish.

Iago is ok, and fits the current -o name trend. The a and o are short. It makes me think of Othello though

SeanCailleach · 03/10/2020 21:48

Can't remember the Middle Welsh story but twin boys called Haf and Gef. (Summer and Winter.) Is Gef a name? It would only get misread as Jeff which is not too bad.

I do like the sound Celyn though.

PuntoEBasta · 03/10/2020 20:39

I know two male Celyns. One toddler in west Wales, one adult in the north.

Canklesforankles · 03/10/2020 20:35

Eirlys means snowdrop, cute for January baby girl

CaffiSaliMali · 03/10/2020 20:28

I love Iago - I was tickled when I bought the Welsh language version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that James and Lily became Iago a Lili. Harry became Harri of course.

Eira is lovely - I think it's popular because it fits the trend of short vowel heavy names. There was also a character called Eira in Merlin although she turned out to be a wrong'un sadly and got hanged.

I like Iona. It's not on my list as I'm not in Wales and I expect most people will assume the Scottish pronunciation. It would be a strong contender if I were in Wales though.

I like Alys, Mari, Morwenna and Tesni. I love Esyllt but it won't work in England unfortunately. For boys Tomos, Osian, Macsen, Aneirin and Taliesin (DH would never agree to the last two sadly).

MikeUniformMike · 03/10/2020 18:53

Siôn was very popular as a middle name, and often used as a surname or instead of a surname.
Anglicised surnames were often changed to the welsh form, so someone called Jones might call their child something Siôn not something Jones.

MikeUniformMike · 03/10/2020 18:47

Hefin was popular around the same time as Kevin, and Carys around the same time as baby girls were called Karen, Iona around the same time as Donna. Possibly a coincidence, but Eira has shot up in popularity fairly recently, asd has Efa, which was hardly used at all before this century.