Welsh baby names that English family can pronounce easily

English speakers often have a problem with Dewi even if it seems really easy to us Welsh speakers.

"Lol, I think most people have a pretty good idea of what constitutes north, south, mid and west Wales - what an odd thing to say."

No, that's not true. They're not that clearly defined.
For me as a north Walian, anything south of Aberystwyth is south Wales (even if it's also mid or west). Cardiff people often use south Wales just to mean the area around Cardiff.
What we call West Wales is also in south Wales, unless someone is referring to the west of the whole of Wales where it could then mean the western half and include north west as well.

Elwyn is very much considered a Welsh name by Welsh speakers even if it has an English origin. It is, however, an old man's name.

Ani is a name I wouldn't consider Welsh actually.

A typo with missing full stop. HudALledrith kindly showed 2 instructional videos for me to listen to in order to learn how to pronounce my OWN name. No matter that the pronounciation was wrong. You piled in about the tongue position for th and l being different, as though that meant I could not be saying my name right (and you said you are English so why did you feel the need to correct me?), The videos also made it seem difficult to do th and l, and I posted to say I do not find it difficult. I also don't think it is difficult for an English speaker, unless it is made to seem so by those who are dogmatic about the Welsh language.

My family are South Welsh, I lived in Mid Wales for many years and now I live on the border of North Wales.

It's El-AIR-y.

Gosh you've really got the bit between your teeth 😂😂😂😂

OK, so one other example I can think of is Hywel. Can be pronounced How-ell, or Huw - ell. Absolutely not accent related. The Howell version very much a South Wales pronunciation by both Welsh and English speakers.

And like the poster above who referred to Eira, similarly Aneurin can be pronounced An-eye-rin or An-aye-rin.

Lol, I think most people have a pretty good idea of what constitutes north, south, mid and west Wales - what an odd thing to say.

And yes, all those names are very easy to pronounce for English and non-English speakers alike. The sounds are very similar to those in English and other European languages.

I'm not sure anyone would struggle to pronounce a name like Gweni, Elin, Mari or Cari?!?

And just to add, I know several Gwenis!

Give over! I have a life apart from mumsnet. You advised someone on pronounciation completely incorrectly- the ll sound is nothing like a soft th, that is an Anglicised version of the sound and is very dissimilar to the actual sound. And if you can't see how it's offensive to cling on to an incorrect version of a culturally significant name in a minoritised language- choosing instead to insist that your version, in the imposed language's pronounciation pattern- then I can't help you I'm afraid.

That's accent not a different pronunciation. Your friend probably says words containing 'ei' with the same sound. I'm thinking more of something like the Spanish Lucia (Luth-ia vs Lus-ia) or Gaeilge Caoimhe (Keeva/Kweeva) type difference

I pronounce Eira differently to my friend from south wales who says eye- ra. I say ay- ra. Ay to rhyme with hay. That’s the only one I can think of

I want to know what the "several names that are pronounced very differently by Welsh speaking South, West and North Walians" are, given that the stress is almost always on the penultimate syllable and the language phonetic, I can't think of any other than Siwan (Siwan/Shŵan/Shiwan) or Ieuan said as Yayan (which I'd put down to accent).

I can think of place names and 'English' personal names.

The definition of West Wales and South Wales is pretty loose anyway and South Wales is not historically as Welsh-speaking as North Wales and Mid Wales due to the industrial past.

The pp in question said that "Easy to say, and phonetic in English: Ffion Gweni Betsi Mari Noni Bronwen Anwen Marged Elin Cari", and most of them aren't. Noni and Gweni are barely registering as names (3 and 15 respectively since 1996, 0 between 1996 and 2013).

Can you edit this post so that it makes sense to English speakers?

(I have visions of the scene from Friends where Joey is learning French……..)

That makes no sense.

@sunshinecjw , call the baby Jac or Lili, or if your mother is called Sophie, Noa is gender-neutral.

So the YouTube videos say I don't find it difficult. It isn't difficult, even for non Welsh speakers.😄

So what is your answer DontyMon? You were ignorant and offensive yet called me so, even though you don't know what you are talking about? Coming back on here to explain? Or hiding away? Thought so! A bigger person would hold their hands up and apologise.

You could always go for an English name with a Welsh spelling if you’re worried about pronunciation, like Nansi, Elsi, Har(r)i, Jac.

Agree.

Coming from English parents and being married to an Englishman I know exactly how hard it is to wrap your tongue around the ll sound when you didn’t grow up hearing it, but that doesn’t mean you get to decide it’s a completely different sound.

I can remember trying to teach my cousins Nadolig Llawen and them landing on “slawen” because they couldn’t get the sound to come out out of the sides of their mouth.

It’s a completely different tongue position for ll and th……

It's the stress pattern in that one that's right, the LL is in the other video.
It's definitely not a THL sound, and I'm not the only one who said your pronunciation is wrong.

Give examples of something similar then, please.

Is it something like Meira in Porthcawl said as Myra not Meira, or Arwel said Ah-wul? (both accent)

So I am supposed to take instruction from a video made by a north American man about how to pronounce my own second name, one that has been in my Welsh family since at least the 19th century? And his version of ll was not even correct! If I had to describe it again for English speakers, I would say it is pronounced with a soft thl sound. If you don't like that, please take your aggression elsewhere.

Not so, I can think of several names that are pronounced very differently by Welsh speaking South, West and North Walians which doesn't relate to their respective accents. Unfortunately the two that spring to mind are in my immediate family so could be outing!

Not so, I can think of several names that are pronounced very differently by Welsh speaking South, West and North Walians which doesn't relate to their respective accents. Unfortunately the two that spring to mind are in my immediate family so could be outing!

It may be in use just fewer than 3 registered every year.
-wen names were very popular in the first third of the 20th century, and there are all sorts of them that never became established names.

@HudALledrithmy apologies. I know a Welsh lady called Tonwen. Maybe her parents made it up - she told me it means white wave.

@GreenCandleWax It is a very old name but given that you got one of the sounds wrong, you're the one who didn't make any effort.

Imagine if it was a thread called 'English baby names that Welsh family can pronounce easily' and someone posted 'Boudicca, it's pronounced Boujicca' and that's about equivalent. Nain and Taid would probably be thinking it was Boo-JIC-a.