Hugh or Huw

[oohlaalaa]

Dh and I have agreed on a boys name.

We live near Wrexham, but neither of us have lived there all our lives. Dh has an English surname, and English parents but considers himself Welsh. He has lived in Wales since he was a toddler, and been to Welsh schools. I am an English Welsh mix, dads Welsh, mums English. I'm from Oswestry (just over border in England), so very used to Welsh names. My brother and dad both have Welsh names.

Dh prefers Huw spelling, but could be persuaded into Hugh. I prefer Hugh.

Told my parents and brother we had decided on name, and just needed to agree on spelling. They all think Hugh is a poncey name, but Huw is down to earth. [Hmm]. They all much preferred the Huw spelling, and considered it right for me and DH.

I'm still unsure?? What are your thoughts?

TBH I didn't know that Huw is pronounced Hugh!

Perhaps if you are from an area where Huw is the usual spelling, then Hugh seems snobby, whereas if you are from an area where Hugh is the usual spelling, then Huw seems ethnic.

Either is nice, neither seems to me pretentious.

I prefer Huw. I wouldn't use it unless I had strong Welsh connections - but you do. I don't think either is more poncey or down to earth, just prefer the look of Huw.

oh and obv it should be your and DH decision not your parents and brother

I didn't think Hugh was pretentious either. Hugo maybe.

Initially I liked Huw, but decided Hugh fitted with our surname better.

I know four Huw's, but only one Hugh. You may have a point, with regards to area we live in.

But then if we called him, Hugh, he'd have the same name as Hugh Jackman. Although parents associates it with the toffs Grant and Bonneville. I know parents opinions don't matter, but I like to have their feedback.

we have a relative called huw - its a lovely name. don't think either are pretentious - though do think hugo is. if you have welsh connections that you want to celebrate then huw - you will have to spell it to people and it will probably be spelt incorrectly on a regular basis by both english (who don't know spelling) and welsh (who assume its the english way). don't think my relative has ever had any ethnic comments due to huw spelling.

Ugg, thinking about famous Hugh's. There is Hugh Hefner and Laurie. Hugh Laurie, I really like. Hefner is just awful.

I prefer Huw, but I am Welsh.

Thanks dreamingofsun. My brothers name has to be spelt too, and its never irritated him.

Hughie is cute. Can be shortened when older.

Thanks JemimaMuddledUp. I suspect our baby will feel Welsh, as we don't intend to move away from Wales.

I agree paranoideandroid, hughie is cute. Don't think DH would let me use it though.

is wrexham in wales? In which case i'd go for the huw spelling as its most likely to be done correctly. to be honest i didn't feel it made an awful lot of difference, so left spelling up to my husband

Yes, its just in Wales (on the border).

Where I grew up (near Oswestry), to me, feels more welsh to where I live now (near Wrexham). Our village and house, have english names, whereas parents village and house have welsh names.

thinking about this....if you live in wales and the baby is mainly welsh i would go for huw. i'd only go for hugh if you wanted to remind the child that he had english in his blood - which is what we did except the other way round.

I prefer Huw, cos I think Hugh is too common lol. Huw is posher sounding, and a nice nod to the Welsh roots.

I think our child will identify as welsh, so erring for welsh spelling. Its just the english surname.

I think both Dh and my roots are more english than welsh (3 english grandparents to 1 welsh). However seeing that DH identifies welsh, and we live in wales, perhaps Huw makes sense. I consider Hugh more unusual, as I know more Huws.

Personally I prefer Hugh, but if your child is likely to identify as Welsh then I'd go for Huw.

How, all the way. I'm Welsh too, btw. So I would say Huw, in honour of the wonderful journalist, Huw Edwards.

Huw of course.

My DH would argue they're pronounced differently (he's from N Wales and is a Welsh speaker)... He pronounces Huw more like Hyau. And don't even get him started on how to pronounce Rhys or Dylan!!! It's one of the reasons our DS has an English name he hated the way I didn't pronounce any Welsh names correctly although he's convinced I was doing it on purpose.

If you prefer Hugh and your DH isn't all that fussed, go with Hugh or else it'll annoy you forever. I don't understand why your family would think that one spelling of the same name is more poncy than the other - it's the same name!

Lovely name BTW - if I had a different surname it'd be on our list.

Definately Huw!

Thanks all.

I got a very strong reaction from my family over Hugh / Huw. It was a case of "Huw everytime","everybody we know spells it Huw", "theres no question over it", "we're not ponces"....

I thought about it afterwards, and decided son was most likely to consider himself Welsh, like DH. No doubt DH will be wanting to take him to juniors at local rugby club, as soon as he can walk. DH business is in Wales, and he has no intention of ever moving. He will be going to the local state schools, and if he takes after any of DH, my father, or my brother, will consider himself welsh, be rugby mad, and prefer Huw spelling.

CaptainMartinCrief - yes, Dad said they are pronounced slightly differently, but apparently I use the welsh pronounciation (hew, similar to dew), without realising it. My parents home is only 2 miles from the border, I went to a welsh primary and sixth form, and when I'm not in Wales or the border counties, everybody tells me I have a welsh accent (but its only very slight, if I told my welsh friends I had a welsh accent, they would laugh in my face).

They both sound kind of "retchy" but Huw is worse.