Welsh name for English baby? Welsh/ non-Welsh MNers opinions please.

[trekking]

Neither DH or I are Welsh or have Welsh heritage. However, we like the name Anwen and are wondering if its ok to use given our non-Welshness.I know lots of non-Welsh people use Welsh names but a lot of the of these names are much more popular than Anwen - Megan and Rhys for example.

Also, to me, the name would be pronounced An-win - does anyone know if that's correct? Does anyone know any Anwens - Welsh or otherwise?

Would appreciate your opinions :)

It's fine to use,whether you're Welsh or not. I know a couple of English Sian's from university.

But it's pronounced An-wen not An-win. Welsh is a largely phonetic language,how a word looks is how it's said.

Lovely. And def An-wen not win. I'd use it!

Its a beautiful name, definitely An-wen though rather than An-win. I'm welsh but been in England for 14 years now and mine have welsh names. Mostly they just get compliments, no one ever checks my Welsh credentials

It's a lovely idea and lots of English parents use Welsh names.

You could try Seren (it means star), Rhiannon, Cerys, Carys, Cariod (means darling).

However Anwen is lovely. Good choice!

Cariad not cariod.

Of course you can! People have been giving babies French/German/Irish/African etc names for decades and Roman/Latin names for centuries. I'm Welsh living in England and both mine have Welsh names.

An-wen is correct

Seren is a nice name as well, Carys/Cerys are fairly well known too.

or there's Nia, Lowri, Catrin which aren't quite as popular at the moment

Two of my girls have Welsh names (both mentioned in this thread) the other one is Scottish but so well known that no one notices. I do find that if I meet Welsh people locally they'll ask if we have Welsh family (we do, my mum's grandparents were all Welsh, from a similar area and their children just happened to meet locally; his granddad was Welsh and being a military child it was the one fixed place in his life) but mostly we don't get anyone ask.

We're expecting a boy and discussing names, we want another Welsh name but we don't want to go so Welsh that we look like we're themeing.

Thanks everyone for your positive responses. I do really like the name and also the nn of Annie.

Given that the pronunciation is clearly An-wen does that mean that all Welsh girls names are pronounced in a similar way e.g. Bronwen is never Bronwin. I've only ever heard Bronwen pronounced with this way and that's why I thought Anwen would be the same.

I don't know why, but saying it out loud, An-wen is a little harder for me to pronounce than AN-win - I have to think about it IYSWIM!

Thanks too for the other suggestions, any more very welcome :)

Anwen is lovely, with nn Annie, really lovely. We're not Welsh but with a Welsh surname, I'd definitely go for it.

All the -wen names in Welsh such as Anwen,Bronwen are pronounced as they look.

It's to do with gender. Wen - feminine. Wyn (win) - male.

How do you feel about Ffion? It's pronounced fee-on

Or Alys?

What Alisvolatpropiis said is correct. Wen for girls Wyn (win) for boys.

Alternative 'easy' Welsh names
Nerys - rhymes with Cerys
Nia
Eleri
Ceri - Kerry
Gwenan
Sara
Rhiannon
Mari
Mair
Menna
Elin

We have just named our baby girl Eira (eye-rah) which is welsh. We have no welsh connection though.

Yes people do say Bronwin
They also spell it Bronwyn
They are just wrong and its bloody annoying

Eira is beautiful its means snow doesn't it? Anwen is a lovely choice, my friends DD is Bronwen and i agree some people seem to pronounce the wen softly..more of a win if you hear it quickly! That said it is An-wen. Welsh speakers would definitely pronounce it with a hard 'wen'. Love welsh names!

I am welsh but live in England. We decided to give our dds welsh middle names instead of first names to avoid the constant "how do you spell that?" That I get with my name!

We are not Welsh and don't live in Wales, but gave DD a very unusual Welsh name (only 6 born in the UK in the year). Her name is also not obvious or easy for not-Welsh people to pronounce or spell. I get a lot of confused looks when people ask me her name and then ask how it is spelt. We don't regret it though as it is a beautiful name, so I would say go for Anwen.

We are not Welsh but have a welsh surname and our daughter has a welsh christian name, purely because I love the sound of it and the meaning and always said if I had a daughter that would be her name, even before meeting DH. Choose a name you love. An-Wen is lovely.

I'm Welsh and I say go for it! Anwen is a beautiful name.

My DS has an Irish name (which sounds Welsh, but has an Irish spelling). DH's mum's family were Irish so it's a nod to that, but really it's because we love the name. He will spend his life spelling it out but better than my experience of having the most common name of the 1970s.

Hi there

I'm agreeing with everyone else,nothing wrong with giving her a welsh name just make sure you pronounce it properly.

Its one of my major pet peeves when english people try and talk welsh/say welsh words but use their own english accent lol :)

Anwens a lovely name :)

Would love to name my daughter bronwen, but my son has an english name although we are welsh
Have been living in england for 3 years now and dh is english.