Welsh names for English speakers

Alys
Bethan
Carys
Eira
Mabli
Nia
Anwen
Tesni

Aled
Idris
Emrys
Macsen
Emlyn
Iestyn
Ioan
Rhodri
Tomos
Rhydian

There was recently a thread similar to this for girls’ names:

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/baby_names/5565984-welsh-baby-names-that-english-family-can-pronounce-easily

My contribution was to go through the top 100 names in England and Wales and offer my very uneducated guess at pronunciation of anything that looked a bit Welsh, perhaps giving you I sight into the pitfalls of any names :

Girls:
Mali (like the African country)
Alys (Alice)
Mabli (No idea but this thread taught me and it seems obvious and pretty!)
Ffion (Fee-on)
Lili (is this Welsh? I’d guess Lily?)
Seren (se-ren - se like sai in said)
Nansi (Nancy)
Eira (ey-ra - ey like Spey)
Efa (e-fa - e like egg)
Elsi (Elsie)
Eleri (Celery without the C)
Lowri (Lowry)
Anwen (Ann-win)

Boys:
Osian (Oh-see-an)
Macsen (Mac-sin)
Harri (Harry)
Jac (Jack)
Dylan (Is this Welsh or just me projecting?)
Elis (Ellis)
Tomos (Thomas)
Emrys (Em-ris)
Dewi (dew-y)
Gruffydd (Gruff-Ed)

I think Eira and Ioan would be mispronounced frequently.
Lovely names though.

Edited to add I am Welsh, my children have Welsh names, this is just my experience of multi-vowel names read by English people.

A poster above has written their interpretations of your names, most of them I thought would be fine, but apparently not.

Anwen (for example) would be Anwen (with the e sound of ‘when’ not Anwin, as they said)

Seren is definitely popular, but very pretty sounding. My Welsh neighbours had a Manon, which I liked.

My favourite Welsh girls name is Rhiannon. And for a boy I like Rhodri.
I’m Welsh and would pronounce Eira as Eye-ra.

Lowri is my favourite for girls and Macsen for boys

@a1yumi ,give the baby a name you love and a Welsh middle name.
@FunnyOrca has given insight into how likely the names are to be mispronounced.

Girls:
Mali - Mally
Alys (Alice)
Mabli - Mabbly
Ffion (Fee-on)
Lili - Lily
Seren - SERR-enn
Nansi (Nancy)
Eira - nearest approximation is EY-rah
Efa - EV-ah (ev like in ever)
Elsi (Elsie)
Eleri - El-ERR-y (rhymes with Kerry)
Lowri (Lowry) - nearest approximation is LOW-ry (Ow like in Owen)
Anwen (Ann-win) ANN-wenn
Boys:
Osian (Oh-see-an) - OSH-ann
Macsen (Mac-sin) - MAX-enn
Harri (Harry)
Jac (Jack)
Dylan - DULL-ann
Elis (Ellis)
Tomos (Thomas) - TOM-oss
Emrys (Em-ris)
Dewi - nearest approximation is DEH-wy (like Derry said by Jonathan Ross)
Gruffydd - Griffith, th like in this.

Manon - MAN-onn
Ioan - YO-ann
Rhodri - nearest approximation is Rodry
Rhiannon - nearest approximation is Ree-ANN-onn
(RH is one letter and is like R and H said at the same time)

Long and boring post alert
The intention being to avoid names that need explaining, spelling or correcting.
The 'you only have to correct someone once' is not true, and even if it was you'd still have to do it a lot.

I'd avoid names

• with sounds that you don't get in English (LL, RH, CH)
• with more than one syllable because the unstressed vowels will be a schwa and the wrong syllable might be stressed
• with a C or G before I, E or Y
• with diphthongs like ei, eu, ai, au, aw, ia, ie, ieu, io, ow
• ending in -o
• containing a DD or a F
• with a U
• with an R that's not at the beginning
• names that have the mispronunciation established (eg Rhys, Dylan)

I'd pick a name

• that is easy to spell and sounds exactly the same in Welsh and English but not many are current.
• an anglicized Welsh name (e.g. Lloyd, Owen, Vaughan)
• something like Arthur

David would be a good choice for a boy.
I'd probably pick a name that is from the Bible that doesn't sound too different in Welsh and English (e.g. Daniel, Ruth, Miriam, Ann/Anna, Sarah, Martha) or something like Sara or Lara.

I don't think that names like Jac, Harri, Nansi or Lili look great in England but they are popular in Wales.

Siân

Check with your partner what would annoy him mispronounced and what wouldn't, and what sounds you can and can't make.
DH is Welsh-born to English speaking parents, but grew up in north Wales and the pronunciations come quite naturally to him and sound natural too.

I like the names Rhiannon and Rhys but I can only approximate the start- it's either a pathetic faint token "huh" or, if I try harder , a really fake sounding theatrical tongue flick-flopping mess like some twat saying they went to Barttttthhhhe-LOW-nah on holiday. The more I concentrate, the worse it gets.

Dylan is easier, but the mispronunciation really really gets on DHs nerves. I have already heard enough "It's not fucking DILL-in. Fuck sake. " hurled at the telly to do me a lifetime.

For a lot of Welsh names that I like, the stress on the syllables is different to where I thought they would be which makes difference too.

Tesni or Emrys

Only if they want to be called Sean or Cy-an/have to spell their name every time (from a Siân who grew up in England!)

Rhys /Reece
Gethin
Gareth
Aled
David
Owen

Ffion
Elin
Sian
Carys
Gwendolyn

@powershowerforanhour , Exactly. It's a lot worse when it's your or your child's name.
Don't overthink it - the stress is always on the last but one syllable.
The vowels in unstressed syllables are said as the vowel not a schwa etc. (See pp)

@Gateappreciation , Gwendolen in Welsh and it's Gwen-DOL-enn not GWEN-duh-lin

I often get that from non-English speaking people- usually abroad. Saying that I spell out my name in Wales too- especially when I use my email address! Most of my work friends elongate it to Siâni though! My mother hates it! 😹

That’s not how you pronounce Mali - it’s a short sounding A rather than longer sounding

not the correct for Osian either is more Osh-An

Eleri doesn’t rhyme with celery either

@PlatiPlus , Siân gets lengthened to Siani (Shanny) as in Siani Flewog.
If you have a short name, people will lengthen it.
Your colleagues may be calling you Siâni, you know them, I don't.

@Blushingm , it's a good indication of how people might say them. I wouldn't use some names because of the way they get said. (Ulairy and Ree-annun )

Eh?

Siani is the equivalent of Janie, and doesn't have a circumflex on the a. A siani flewog is a caterpillar.
Your colleagues might be calling you Siâni (approx. Sharney) not Siani.

Manon is also French

I'm Welsh, I love Ffion and Elinor. Lowri is also nice. Angharad beautiful but tricky and Llinos beautiful but non Welsh people cannot pronounce it.

For boys I like Dylan, Gareth, Aled and Tomos.

@luckylavender , Elinor isn't really Welsh but is used. Lowri is tricky because you don't get the 'owr' sound in English - they'll say Lowry like in L S Lowry or Low-ry.
Angharad - I think it's ok but it was fairly unusual in my age group but is everywhere now. Ann-garrud/Ann-harrud is horrible.

Llinos is nice but will be Cleanose.

Dylan, Gareth, Aled and Tomos - is it the 1960s?

That's quite rude. It's my opinion..

Oh right.. think you may have the wrong person? Anyway good to know about the caterpillar 🐛