Calling English people! Could you pronounce these Welsh names?

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DH and I are Welsh but live in England I'm currently expecting DC 3+4(twins, boy and a girl) and we'd love to use a Welsh name but I'm not sure how accessible they would be to English people? We already have an Elen and a Tomos.

Here's my list:
Girls

Celyn
Eira
Betsan
Teleri
Mabli
Sioned
Ffion
Anwen

Boys

Gruff
Dafydd
Iolo
Iago
Macsen
Elis
Eban
Iestyn
Ieuan

Opinions/feedback would be much appreciated

Yeah of course... dunno if I'd be right though ;)

KELLin
AIR-ah
BETTsan
TelAIRee
MABblee
SHONned
FEEon
ANNwenn

Gruff - same as in English
DAFFid
EEohloh
EEahgo
MAXenn
ELLiss
EBBann
Maybe like Justin? Only one I'd really struggle to guess at.
YAI-an

Ooo, I thought I was going to be ok at this but I only recognise two on each list. Teleri and Ffion and Dafydd and Ieuan. I'm sure the others sound lovely though.

I like Mostyn and Hayden for boys and Seren and Delyth for girls as well.

I'm welsh, I really like the list, here's my thoughts.
Sioned might cause some difficulty with the Si being pronounced Si so you might get see-on -ed.
Also think celyn is very similar to elen, even though you have a lyn and a len sound at the end of the names. Have you thought of Cerys?
Gruff might be pronounced with the u like in up and not like an i/y.
Iolo, iestyn and ieuan might cause some problems with the I being pronounced separately like I-olo etc.
What do you think of Lloyd, Rhys, Owain, Huw Dylan?

I can, but is Welsh. FWIW, I have an Eira and everyone can pronounce it :-)

Sorry, DH is Welsh. I'm not :-)

Ok, here's how I would instinctively pronounce them:

Celyn - Kel-in
Eira - Air-a
Betsan - Betsan (exactly as written!)
Teleri - Teller-ree
Mabli - Mab-lee
Sioned - Shon-ed
Ffion - Fee-on
Anwen - An-wen (as written)

Boys

Gruff - Gruff!
Dafydd - Daff-id
Iolo - Yol-oh
Iago - Yay-go
Macsen - Max-en
Elis - Elis
Eban - Evan (like Evan but with a b)
Iestyn - Less-tin
Ieuan - Yew-an

I adore Anwen from your girls list, and think most of the girls would be manageable for a non welsh person.

I like Elis best of the boys, then Iago.

I think I can do all the boy names, but I'm only certain about Eira, Anwen and Celyn (the latter is due to knowing one, though).

This is how I think they would be pronounced:
Celyn - Sellin
Eira - Aira
Betsan - Betsan
Teleri - Tellery
Mabli - Mabill
Sioned - Shonedd
Ffion - Feeonn
Anwen - Annwhen

Boys

Gruff - Gruff
Dafydd - Daffidd
Iolo - Eye-olo
Iago - Yago
Macsen - Macksen
Elis - Ellis
Eban - Eebann
Iestyn - Yestin
Ieuan - Ewan

I am not deliberately being obtuse BTW. This is genuinely how I think they would be pronounced.

Even the Welsh won't agree on how to pronounce some of them!

Eira is more EYE-ra or AY-ra depending on where in Wales you come from.

I would pronounce them however I was told to pronounce them either by the parent of a baby or the child themself once old enough!

I've lived in Wales and if I remember right a single f is pronounced as v and double f as f.

So Dafydd is more like Davith (dd is like a very soft cross between d and th). I think...

Also I think Gruff is probably pronounced like Griff.

I'd say Griff for Gruff.

Not keen on Betsan or Sioned, nor Macsen. I'd also be wary of Iago because of Shakespeare.

I know a lovely Anwen. And I was a bit in love with Iestyn Mortimer when I read Rape of the Fair Country in my teens, so I've always been quite fond of Iestyn.

Purple My Eira is very good at telling people how her name is to be pronounced and spelled :-) She also does her brother and sister who are too young for spelling...

I teach a Ieuan in the depths of Suffolk and we can all pronounce it but lots of people find it hard to spell! (The child himself doesn't help... He spent the first half term pretending he only spoke welsh and now tells his friends it is spelt YiYan!)

I like Anwen and Iago as best combo

I would pronounce all of those phonetically, except Ffion, which I know is Fee-on anf Sioned, which I would pronouce Shon-ed. And I really wouldn't go for Iago in any language, isn't he a fairly full-on Shakespearean baddie???

WoodBurner :o I've always gone by a shortened version of my full name so am careful to respect other people's choices. As are 99% of people I know I want to high five the rest in the face with a chair

I would pronounce Iago as Ee Are Go unless told otherwise

My youngest daughter is Celyn Sionedd. Fab names

My son also has the middle name Aneurin - totally under used and Nye is a fab nn.

Yes, but went to Uni in Wales, and have Welsh speaking, welsh raised nephews.

I'm English , but live in Wales , here are my thoughts...

Celyn... I'm guessing Kell inn , but might be confused with Celia
Eira... Had an auntie Eira , think that's easily recognised
Betsan .. Bett San . Good
Teleri... tell airy ..made up name
Mabli... No..Mabb lee , or have yo spelt Mabel incorrectly
Sioned.. Shonn edd
Ffion... fee fee onn ( I like it really )
Anwen .. Ann when

Boys

Gruff.. Gruff ( I know it's griff )
Dafydd .. I think this is easy Daviv
Iolo.. Eye oh low
Iago... Eye ah go
Macsen... Maxin
Elis.. Ellis ( spelt wrongly )
Eban... Eee bann
Iestyn... Justi ?
Ieuan... Ewan

I'm English though do live in Wales & speak some Welsh. I think there's two questions:
a) will people pronounce them correctly the first time simply on seeing them written. IMO that's less important - people are so used to names from different cultures these days that they'll just tend to ask if they don't recognise a name.
b) are they actually hard to pronounce correctly as in are the sounds hard for an english person to say. To me that would be more of a problem.

From your girls list the only one I'd avoid would be Sioned. From your boys list, I'd see Dafydd and Ieuan as possibly being tricky.

The really obviously easy ones I would say are Betsan & Anwen for a girl, Macsen for a boy. Anwen does tend to get shortened to Annie tho IME which you might not like?

Celyn - KELin
Eira - AIR-ah
Betsan -BETsan
Teleri - TelAIRee
Mabli - MABli
Sioned -SHONed
Ffion - FEEon
Anwen - ANwen

Boys

Gruff - Griff
Dafydd DAFFith
Iolo - YOLLo
Iago - YAYgo
Macsen - MACsen
Elis - el EESS
Eban - eh BAN
Iestyn - YES tin
Ieuan - YEW an

Iago in England is loaded with Shakespearean context- wouldn't even think 'welsh' just think immediately of that character.

I know a baby Ffion, it's noticeably 'different' but people know how to say it, and personally I think it's lovely