Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

Welsh girls names you can pronounce

118 replies

Frankiefarr · 30/04/2021 17:55

So having failed to agree on anything DH thinks something from his Welsh side would be nice. We don’t live in Wales though so I’m wanting to know what’s hot and what’s not in Wales and what can people pronounce. So far from the family connections we have

Sian - I like but heard old fashioned in Wales
Siriol
Ceridwen
Eirian (Ayrian)
Manon - I quite like this
Tesni
Eluned
Glesni - again quite like this
Tarian - may be a bit GOT

Any more?

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
CalonGaled · 05/05/2021 18:17

I've got an Auntie Eirwen and she's really nice too. Now I'm thinking about it she might be Eurwen.

FTEngineerM · 05/05/2021 18:13

Ok=on

FTEngineerM · 05/05/2021 18:13

Oopsy ok the spelling. It’s my neighbours name and she’s lovely.. I always think of how nice the name is @CalonGaled

CalonGaled · 05/05/2021 17:56

@FTEngineerM, Eirwyn is a boy's name. Very old fashioned. Eirwen is a girl's name, also old fashioned.

FTEngineerM · 05/05/2021 17:34

Eirwyn

bridgetreilly · 05/05/2021 17:33

Can't bear Seren.

I really love Betsan and Angharad. Also Mererid.

Phphion · 05/05/2021 17:24

We considered Siriol for DD, but when we tried it amongst the English, they all wanted to pronounce it 'Cereal'. We might as well have named her Frosted Flake.

DacwMamYnDwad · 05/05/2021 11:52

Celyn will be Sellin, and I'm not sure Rhosyn is a name - if it is, it will be misspelt and mispronounced. Both look masculine to me because of the -yn endings, although both are feminine nouns.

Leontine · 05/05/2021 07:22

Not seen Celyn or Rhosyn mentioned I don’t think?

Original poster
Frankiefarr · 04/05/2021 13:23

@littleredberries I know several Welsh people called Eirian who pronounce it Ay-rian including someone who teaches Welsh. Most websites also say it’s pronounced Ay-rian. My understanding is the Eyerian thing is a recent South Walian adoption

OP posts:
LadyMonicaBaddingham · 04/05/2021 10:49

Mabli. Absolutely lovely name and easy to pronounce.

Nojusttheone · 04/05/2021 10:42

My sister is Eleri which is a lovely name but she was Eleri-Celery at school unfortunately. Also, trust me, no one in England can pronounce Ceridwen (thanks mum and dad)!

Carys, Catrin, or Gwen/Gwenno maybe?

DacwMamYnDwad · 04/05/2021 10:22

Eirian will be Erriun, Eirlys Airluss. I know several Eirians and they all say it as Ey-rian. They are all over 50.

Anya isn't Welsh.

Dilys would work but it's definitely a granny name. It will get misspelt - Dylis probably.

Catrin is nice.

WellTidy · 04/05/2021 10:12

I am welsh, with a welsh name, living in England. It is so hard having to correct people on their pronunciation all the time, I feel really uncomfortable with it, and so put up with lots of people saying my name ‘wrong’.

In your position, I would go with Catrin - can’t go wrong. And I really like the name too!

iminthegarden · 04/05/2021 10:07

Dilys

ElspethAnne · 04/05/2021 10:02

Anya

Boom253 · 04/05/2021 09:55

We've got a lovely Manon. I think it's great name 😁

littleredberries · 04/05/2021 09:52

Ah yes as per the next post I was just about to say there might be a north-south divide on this one. I'm from South Wales

CaffiSaliMali · 04/05/2021 09:44

If you're in North Wales the letters Ei make an ay/ey sound like in hay and hey, rather than an Eye sound like in some parts of South Wales.

My Mam's family are from N.Wales and would pronounce Eira as EY-ra, Eirys as EY-riss and Aneurin as An-EY-rin.

I know someone from S.Wales who would say EYE-ra, EYE-riss and An-EYE-rin.

littleredberries · 04/05/2021 09:31

Eirian is not pronounced Ayrian but EYE-rian. Remember all the Rs are trilled.
From a Welsh person

CaffiSaliMali · 04/05/2021 08:12

Sian is lovely OP. I think it's reasonably well known now outside if Wales so hopefully shouldn't have too many pronunciation issues.

Original poster
Frankiefarr · 03/05/2021 20:59

I love Sian.

OP posts:
catsareme14 · 03/05/2021 19:32

Eira , it means snow

Y0YO · 03/05/2021 19:31

A lot of the suggestions here aren't actually Welsh names which may or may not matter to you.

Some names are very modern, such as Seren, it's only really been popular in recent times as far as I'm aware (apologies if I'm wrong, first time I heard of it as a name was when my cousin used it for her daughter). Personally while it is pretty I don't think of it a 'proper' Welsh name but it's certainly very popular these days so I'm obviously old fashioned!

I had a book of Welsh names when I was pregnant, might be useful to get one. It had meanings and pronunciation guides in there.

I quite like Menna but not sure how that would sound to English ears.

AlmostSummer21 · 03/05/2021 19:27

Hmmm. welsh names I find difficult. Sometimes they look 'obvious' and are far from it, other times they're about a million letters long and are 'fred'.

Manon seems masculine to me

Have you considered Eirlys?

I think if you choose a welsh name it will get mangled, even if people try really hard, unless you learn the sounds in your younger years, a lot are difficult to make properly.

It depends how much it will annoy you to not have her name said 'properly'. You get that with English names too though, so 🤷🏻‍♀️ But no matter where a name is from is variable pronunciation will piss you off, try to minimise the opportunity!