Welsh nature names for girls

@Oneandabean, Err-ra is wrong. Ear-a or Ee-ra is nearer how I hear it - sort of half-way between Ay-ra and Ee-ra. Eye-ra is an anglicised or S. Walian way of saying it.

@hoochymamgu, Aerona is pretty. I've seen Aurona or Eurona but not sure if they are the same. Dylan Thomas's daughter was Aeronwy, after the river Aeron.

Naming after rivers is,or has been, quite popular. If the river name is a boy's name there was a trend to change the ending to wen or a - Clwydwen, Aledwen, Elwen, Ogwena and Aerona being examples. You could also do the same with a place name and have something like Meiriona, Eifiona

Tegid is a boy's name but could be used as a mn for a girl.

Gwyneth was popular around the same time as all the -wen (and -wyn for boys) names. 1920-1950 or thereabouts.

I Love love love Eira

Gwenhwyfar? Always thought that was Gwenivere, in Welsh.
Also Aerona, middle name of my granddaughter, possibly connected to the local river.
Gwyneth, Gwenyth, Arianwen? Thought that meant bright silver though I could be incorrect.
Rhosyn? Could seek out other flower names?
I love Medi or Awst (if born in the right months!) I like short Welsh names, a lot of names sound like little old lady names, but that can be quite charming

My eldest has the middle name Seren which is star.

I also have a 5 month old Eira which I love. We pronounce it ay-ra, but some people have said it like eye-ra and even ear-ra and err-ra. I still love it though.

@DacwMamYnDwad - okay since you tagged me, but this is the last time I'm posting on the thread - Welsh (and Irish) name ones always seem go off on tangents and I really don't want to derail the thread any further for the OP as I said before, sorry .

From what I can find from the last count of 2014 there were 182 Gwyneira's (and 39 Gweneira's) - so no it's not a well known name but not unheard of either (in comparison for example there are supposed to be 194 Gwennan's) .

Anecdotally living here I've met 1 Gwyneira (where I first heard the name), 1 Gwennan, 1 Gwen (not sure if a given name or short for something), 1 Gwendolyn (but goes by Doll), a few young Eira's, yet weirdly I've not yet met a Gwyneth even though there are supposed to be nearly 5000 of them in Wales according to statistics - it must really depend on area!

I did a search for both Gweneira and Gwyneira on the dark greener website.

Darkgreener tracks ONS stats for names from 1996 to present. It presents a nil entry for any name which is either not used at all, or isn't used 3 or more times in a year.

It had nil entries for both Gweneira and Gwyneira so impossible to tell a difference - theoretically two Gwyneiras could have been born every year and no Gweneiras.

However, as it only goes back to 1996 it's not that helpful beyond recent trends. There may have been 10 Gwyneiras for every Gweneira on the 1960s, for example.

Eira has had a big jump since 1996 from 2096th to 448th place in the E&W stats.

Aneira has gone from 0 to 1439th place.

@IamnotwhouthinkIam, Gwynedd is the one based on Cunedda. Gwyneth is based on Gwyn meaning blessed.

Can you supply figures re the use of Gwyneira, please?
There are names starting with Gwyn but apart from Gwyneth they are boys' names. You make it sound like there are dozens of Gwyneiras around.

The Guinevere I know gets called Guin.

I suppose one advantage of Gweneira is that she could shorten to Gwen or Eira, whereas with Gwyneira she may not want to shorten to Gwyn so will just be left with Eira. So that could counteract it being the less commonly used spelling.

Yes @CaffiSaliMali, good point about that maybe outweighing the being misspelt. But I suppose she could still be Gwen with Gwyneira since there is the e in the Eira part? (or perhaps the same way Guinevere's still sometimes get called Gwen).

Anyway I'll leave it here now, I've derailed the OP's thread enough . I just love the name Gwyneira/Gweneira so it's interesting to hear other Welsh peoples like or dislike of it!

@DacwMamYnDwad - Okay, I don't use/trust wiki so I wouldn't know. But etymology is a complicated thing so I wouldn't completely distrust the idea that "Gwyneth" could have originally had some language links to "Gwynedd" - I think it would take an expert in Old Welsh to know for sure . I've seen it suggested on a few sites that both the names Gwyneth and Gwynedd could be linked linguistically to ancient cheiftan/King Cunedda and therefore the name Kenneth too!

But again I'm not clear why Gwyneira looks "wrong" as you said? Gwyneira seems to have been in use for a reasonably long time too, so seems just as "correct" as Gwyneth to me? Ah well, agree to disagree .

The wen/wyn confusion really annoys my family. A close relative has a 'wen' name and it is constantly mispronounced as 'wyn' and misspelled. My relative Gwyn gets called Gwen a lot.

If you mispronounce or misspell Olwen as Olwyn you'd be calling someone wheel.

As pp, the baby names sites have some really dodgy entries. (Famine, Wheel, Wheelbarrow etc)

Trying to decide which is worse, famine or wheelbarrow!

I think Eira is so pretty it doesn't need anything adding to it, whether Gwen or Gwyn. To me Gwyneira looks wrong as I have a (male) relative called Gwyn so to me it looks a bit like adding a male name to a female name, like Garybella. This is coming from a Welsh learner though, my Mam and her family may disagree as first language speakers. I suppose one advantage of Gweneira is that she could shorten to Gwen or Eira, whereas with Gwyneira she may not want to shorten to Gwyn so will just be left with Eira. So that could counteract it being the less commonly used spelling.

It would be interesting to know who names their child Gwyneira or Gweneira. As a welsh speaker, I just see Snow White.

It doesn't strike me as being trendy, although Gwen is.

Is it a bit like Bronwyn (cringe), which appears on almost every name thread, with the Welsh speakers going 'No, No, it's Bronwen!'

If you look u the name on wiki it says Gwyneth derived from Gwynedd or something like that.

Because if how the language works, @IamnotwhouthinkIam.
cf gwyndra, gwynder, gwyndeb. Gwyneth has that pattern.

Gwyneth is an established name and Gweneth is a 'take' on it, probably so that it shortens to Gwen and not Gwyn. Yuk.

A Gwyneth is likely to be in her 70s or 80s. Nice name though.

As pp, the baby names sites have some really dodgy entries. (Famine, Wheel, Wheelbarrow etc)

@DacwMamYnDwad - I wasn't basing the info on Gwyneth on Wiki - where did you get that from? It was a baby name book and multiple name websites that suggest that Gwyneth likely could have some old etymological links to Gwynedd despite Gwyneth's "meaning". I agree a lot of the Welsh baby name websites can get things wrong though.

But in any case why do you think Gwyneira looks wrong but Gwyneth looks fine - they are both established female names with the traditionally masculine "Gwyn" beginning, so that logic doesn't make any sense to me ?

I don't know anyone called Gweneira or Gwyneira, but Gwyneira looks wrong. I thought it was Eira Wen the other way round so it would be Gweneira. (cf Gwenan/Anwen, Mairwen/Gwenfair)

Gwyneth (happiness or blessed) isn't from Gwynedd (district) and has nothing to do with Gwenith (wheat). Wiki isn't always right. Gweneth is horrible. Gwyneth and Gwenith are fine.

The baby name sites have some mind-bogglingly terrible name suggestions.

I suppose it's the same as Gweneth vs Gwyneth - it feels like it should be spelt Gweneth (because of feminine names like Gwendolyn, Gwenllian etc), despite it likely being an anglicized form of Gwynedd, but Gwyneth is just so famous.

@Pieceofpurplesky,
Eirian is from the same root as eirias, which means bright.
Silver is arian. If you got the definition from a baby name site, there is a chance that it might not be correct.

This one has some dodgy ones, although Eirian is ok.

Gwyneira is more logical @IamnotwhouthinkIam. Eira as a noun is masculine, but it is used as a girl's name. Gwyn is usually for boys and Gwen for girls (e.g. Gwynfor, Gwynfryn, Gwenfair, Gwenan) , so Gwyneira looks a bit strange to me.

Kirsten I will tell my aunt she has had the meaning of her name wrong all her life. Oh and a quick Google tells me bright/shiny/silver

Should have said Hedd is a boy's name. It would be OK as a middle name.

You could use Hafren as a middle name, but Sabrina is more colourful. Hafwen is simila in sound - Summer+wen - but is a bit dated

Mona could be an Anglesey-related middle name.

You can use a boy's name as a middle name - it was popular a few decades ago, usually the father's name or the welsh form of a family surname (e.g. Siân Llwyd Jones might have a father called Lloyd or Lloyd might be the mother's maiden name. Llwyd/Lloyd means Grey)

Not nature but nice - Hedd (Peace)

Eirian doesn't mean silver - it means bright