Welsh name for a boy?

I'm of Welsh heritage but live in England and know no Welsh. My pronunciation is not too bad because of my grandparents and parents but I'm sure it's not perfect. I love Welsh names though and would try my very best to say them well. One of my all time favourite names is Taliesin and I wish I'd used it for my son who would really suit it.

Why worry if he gets called Léon, as my phone would like to spell it? Seriously, what harm does it do?

@PuntoEBasta so true. North of the county is very different, plus on the map there's almost a clear line showing the villages and towns in the north having Welsh names compared to the south. If you look up the landsker line also it says how the accents are somewhat different and have similarities to parts of England. Nobody has ever asked me what part of Wales I'm from because my accent is neither here nor there. I definitely have a jumbled mix but not welsh at all. If you google little england beyond wales it really explains it.

In fairness to Kittens, people have been drawing the same conclusion as her for hundreds of years. The phenomenon of linguistic and cultural differences in that particular corner of Pembrokeshire and Carmarthenshire is really interesting. I remember reading an article a few years ago which showed that researchers had found significant differences in the genetic signatures of people from north and south Pembrokeshire.

OP if you are in a Welsh speaking area then go for it! To me the most important thing is that your son grows up knowing how to pronounce his own name and not have his experience of it very much shaped by everyone around him pretty much saying it wrong. That's why I'd say no to a hardcore Welsh name if you are living outside Wales.

But if you're not, and it's just a case of the English side of the family would have trouble with it - that's not a reason to discount it.

Llion is lovely.

Have you considered Talfryn? For some reason I think it has a similar slightly fey vibe to it. And Tal is a great, and strong, and very easy short form.

Non-welsh speakers will just have to learn a new name- not a big deal.
You can't teach some people. You just can't.
I worked with a Rhian and she was Ree-un or Ree-anne, depending on who said it.
I worked with a Geraint and he got called Gurunt, Jur-aint and Grant.

Always amazes me how we have to anglicise everything to suit English names/sake of ease for certain people
You don't have to anglicise names, but you will have people mispronouncing and misspelling them.

I did say this was my opinion only and that nobody else I have met shares this opinion. I see myself and my children as British, I didn't mention anyone else and I never would.

No to ll outside Wales, really.

He'll just never have his name pronounced correctly.

[quote OohKittens]@pittapatta will your children learn welsh as fluent speakers? My children learn welsh because it's compulsory but we live below the landsker line so in my opinion definitely not Welsh at all. I always say we are British. My nan people were convinced she was cornish because of her accent, she had never been there in her life. This is my opinion though and I've never come across anyone else who shares it.[/quote]
Sorry do you mean you don't think people are Welsh if they don't live in Welsh speaking communities and speak fluent Welsh..?

@Mama1993, 'utter tosh'?
Those are real examples.

Only the full names are made up as I wouldn't want to out the individuals concerned.

OP says she lives in a Welsh-speaking area.

@pittapatta will your children learn welsh as fluent speakers? My children learn welsh because it's compulsory but we live below the landsker line so in my opinion definitely not Welsh at all. I always say we are British. My nan people were convinced she was cornish because of her accent, she had never been there in her life. This is my opinion though and I've never come across anyone else who shares it.

I know several non Welsh speaking Welsh people who would pronounce Osian as 'osh-un' and Seren as 'Serrun' and Macsen as 'Mac-sun' for example.

So at what point do you accept that there is going to be some variation in pronunciation due to people’s own regional accents?

My name is Helen. Depending on who is speaking, I get hel-enn, hel-un, and hel-in. When I lived in France my name was universally pronounced Hélène. I don’t consider any of those pronunciations to be wrong.

There are a lot of Welsh people who wouldn’t pass the MN Welsh Test.

Go with the name you like. Non-welsh speakers will just have to learn a new name- not a big deal. Always amazes me how we have to anglicise everything to suit English names/sake of ease for certain people ....after all aren't we a nation made up of different countries and cultures?
And surely through the years you've met/become friends/work with people who have exotic names that you've managed to learn.

My husband and I are Welsh but as our surname is v Welsh and the middle names we've chosen are too (using our dads names) we're not having a Welsh first name.
But I love:
Rhodri
Ellis
Hefin
Ieuan
Gethin
Iestyn

@MikeUniformMike I’m pretty sure OP’s pôst was along the lines of “I live in wales. Is this a nice name?” - not “how will English people say this name?”
Like I said, only on Mumsnet 😂

@MikeUniformMike thanks for that 😁 always loved the name but can never use it. It is blacklisted alongside schweinsteiger 🤣