Nye

[RTchoke]

I know Nye is usually an abbreviation fir Aneurin but I really don't like Aneurin while I love Nye.

What do people think?

[Cezella]

Sorry if I'm being silly here but I don't understand how it's short for Aneurin- Aneurin is pronounced "Ah-neigh-rin" so I don't understand where the "Nye" (which I'm presuming is pronounced "Nigh" comes from?

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Cezella it was the nickname Aneurin Bevan went by. Whether he said his name Ah-ny-rin I don't know.

[Cezella]

Ah, thanks for clearing that up Alis

[Alisvolatpropiis]

No worries! :)

[CelticPromise]

I love it. But only as a nn for Aneurin, which is a great name.

[glittershoes]

I love both nye and aneurin. I pushed for nye as a first name for my 11 week old son but dh would go for it so it is his middle name!

[bananaramma]

Love the name Aneurin - solid, classic and underused. I'm less keen on Nye but it could work as a nickname whilst he's younger.

[Labootin]

I am chortling at Nay

[BreconBeBuggered]

I've only ever heard it pronounced a-nye-rin. So Nye is a perfectly reasonable abbreviation. However, we had one living next door to us and he was a total creep.

[BreconBeBuggered]

Another thought - people will assume you're a bit odd and have called your child Nigh.

[Cezella]

Brecon I think it just annoys me slightly because as a Welsh speaker as a first language, the correct way of saying Aneurin is definitely not "A-nye-rin" but "A-neigh-rin"

I accept if it was Aneurin Bevan's nickname then it's a perfectly acceptable name (and quite sweet) but the name in full definitely doesn't have the sound "nye" in it

[Alisvolatpropiis]

I always thought that Aneurin was Ah-ny-rin and Aneirin was Ah-neigh-rin. That was in fact,completely wrong. I am Welsh,but the Welsh language has only fairly recently has a genuine resurgence in the capital. If I'd mentioned my thoughts on those pronounciation to my mother (fluent Welsh speaker) or Taid (Welsh first language) they would no doubt have put me straight immediately.


I still wonder how Aneurin Bevan became known as Nye. Did he pronounce his name Ah-nye-rin?

[Cezella]

Well I highly doubt that he did! Perhaps it got mispronounced all the time and the name evolved from there? To be fair, I don't suppose I have a reason to get shirty about it but I have seen Irish posters doing the same on here when people mispronounce Irish names. In welsh the sound "Neu" is like "neigh" not "nye" and that's all there is to it haha- same goes for "nei"

But like I say, don't really have a right to get annoyed about it- won't be calling any children of mine it for this very reason though!

[Alisvolatpropiis]

That's what I've been thinking Cezella,that the nickname evolved out of longtime mispronounciation of his full name.

I don't see why Welsh people can't get arsey about their names being mispronounced or indeed misused,Bryn(n?!!!!!) on a girl anyone?,it's our culture and heritage. Everyone else is allowed to be protective of theirs.

I fully intend to take up Welsh classes when I am under a bit less pressure than now. My Taid is sadly unable to help me due to illness and my mum has a high pressure job. I really want my children to be able to speak the Welsh language,possibly go to a Welsh speaking school.

I loathe the attitude towards Welsh names "no one will ever be able to pronounce it"...well everyone got used to Mohammed did they not? Britain is multicultural.

[BreconBeBuggered]

Quite right to get arsey. But I have to say that when I lived at Welsh address with a neu in it, everyone pronounced it nye, even the ones who had Welsh as their first language. Perhaps a local peculiarity? The rest of us would have said 'new', left to our own devices.

[Cezella]

Haha don't get me started- SeREN not SeRUN is one that bugs me greatly, it really isn't difficult to make an E sound- I moved to England for six months a few years back and not one person I met got my name right- and it's a RIDICULOUSLY easy name to pronounce!
I think the time it most annoys me is when people say "We're calling him and it will be pronounced " You wouldn't meddle with the pronunciation of an English name so why can you do it with a Welsh one!
Ha sorry OP for hijacking your thread. To get back to the point, I have no idea how Aneurin Bevan came to be known as Nye, I think the name Nye is ok as long as the full name is pronounced correctly (and that's NEU not NYE)

[DilysPrice]

I like Aneurin, and Nye as a nn for it - used to work with a v nice bloke called Nye. But personally I get judgy/snobby about christening babies by a nickname rather than a "proper" name so wouldn't put Nye on a birth certificate.

[BreconBeBuggered]

Looks like it's still a Nay then OP, whichever way you cut it.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

Thinking about it Brecon,there's an area in Cardiff with -neu at the end and everyone says -nye. Might be an accent thing? There is quite a diverse range of accents in Wales for such a small place after all.

[BarbecuedBillygoats]

It could be anything. A small relative who couldn't pronounce it properly
Someone once said it wrong once and it stuck
Small nye himself decided to call himselff nye

I've not noticed threads where people say don't use welsh names as people won't be able to pronounce them and dd, a ds and I have welsh names

[BreconBeBuggered]

I don't think the A-nye-rin thing is peculiar to Aneurin Bevan, because the one I knew was probably born before his namesake became well-known even in local circles.
As for Welsh names, one of my oldest friends is an Angharad and even now often gets called Angrad, with a hard 'g'. Not in Wales, though, obviously.

[Alisvolatpropiis]

That's my middle name. An English friend looked utterly bemused when I told her. And added "shut up,that's not a real name". How I didn't reply "yes it is,just in a different language you ignorant cow" is beyond me. I ponder on that even now.

[CelticPromise]

To my ear the sound in Aneurin is somewhere in between ny and nay, without a proper English equivalent. Which sound is closest I think depends on your accent. IfI ever have a DS2 Aneurin is top of my list.

I've cursed DS with a very Welsh name in England. I'm always correcting it. There's a perfectly acceptable shortening if people can't manage it but some seem determined to get it wrong.

[BarbecuedBillygoats]

I did wonder Brecon but I couldn't find any evidence of a nye pre bevan
Doesn't mean there weren't of course

[B1ueberryMuff1n]

that's awful. Aneurin is better although it does sound like aneurysm