Calling English people! Could you pronounce these Welsh names?

[BrownPaperPackages]

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

Griff I love

Without reading the thread so as not to skew my answer, I would have said

Kell in
Eye ran
Bet San
Tell uh ree
Mab lee
Shin aid
Fee on
An wen

Gruff
Daff Id
Yollo
Yah go
Mac sen
Ell iss
Eb an
Yes tin
Yew an

Congratulations on your twin bump, OP! I haven't read the responses but heres how I think your list would be pronounced.

Girls

Celyn - KAYlyn
Eira - AIR-a
Betsan - BETzen
Teleri - like Celery with a T
Mabli - MAYblee
Sioned - like Sinead but shorter, 'ShinEDD'?
Ffion - FEE-on
Anwen - ANNwyn

Boys

Gruff - Griff
Dafydd - DAFFid
Iolo - EyeOHlo
Iago - EeAHgo
Macsen - MAXun
Elis - ELLis
Eban - EBan
Iestyn - YEStin
Ieuan - YOU-un

Betsen is quite nice. Gruff, Macsen & Eban are all nice too. If I've got the pronunciation right, that is!

Don't go for Gruff because of the Three Billy Goats- and it's not a particularly nice adjective- spell it Griff like an English person!

And Iago is out because he's such a particularly nasty Shakespearean baddie.

yes, but I've lived in wales since I was 3. However I'm engaged to a Dafydd, and have a 10 day old Celyn asleep on my chest, and my very English family haven't had an issue. they could probably pronounce all the names on there.

What about Seren for a girl. It means star and is not overly used in England. I also like Osian for a boy? :-)

The only one I wouldn't be sure about is Iago. But I did live in Wales for six months.

I'm not English, I'm Welsh so shouldn't really be responding

I once suggested Iago to my dp, it's the only name he was bothered enough about for us to heatedly discuss why it cannot/can be used. Me - it's a name from my culture! Him- your culture is significantly more obscure than Shalespeare and Othello over my dead body will we use that name. So that was that. Might try and sneak Jago in instead!

Surprised by how many can say Ffion!

William hagues wife is called Ffion isn't she? So they were in the news quite a bit when he was Tory leader.

Yes I can because I'm married to a Welshman. Give the list to my mum for example and not a chance.

My DH has a welsh name (don't want to say what it is on here, but very welsh and not on your list) and he now lives in England and no one can pronounce it and people aren't even sure if it's a girls name or a boys name until they meet him. But once people know him and he tells them how it's pronounced it's fine. It will be the same for your dc. People usually only need telling once.

Although steer clear of names with anglicised version like Rhys (rhuhs) and Dylan (duhlan) etc... Because people have the anglicised one fixed in their heads outside of wales.

Out if your list Ffion and Iestyn are my favourite.

I'm from NI but I live in England. I would say:

Girls

Celyn - KELL-in
Eira - AER-a
Betsan - Bet-san
Teleri - tel-AER-ee
Mabli - MAB-li
Sioned - SHON-ed
Ffion - Fee-on
Anwen - an-wen

Boys

Gruff - Griff
Dafydd - Davith
Iolo - Yoh-lo
Iago - Yah-go
Macsen - Max-en
Elis - Ellis
Eban - Ebb-an
Iestyn - YES-tin
Ieuan - Yay-an? Yie-an? [I feel it should be Ewan, but surely those letters don't make that 'ew' sound in Welsh?]

I have a Ioan. English people struggle with reading it. I love Iolo and Ianto.

Is the OP gong to come back and tell us where we have all gone wrong?

Surprised by how many can say Ffion!

I can only think of one way to say it, whether I'm thinking Welsh or English. Whereas Iolo and similar, I can see that people might be thinking Ee-oh-lo, Ee-oll-o, Eye-oh-lo, Yo-lo if they've never come across it before.

Some lovely names :) I'm Welsh so can say 'em all but when we had DD I loved Betsan but (English)DH said it sounded like a brand of toilet cleaner, which annoyingly put me off!

The actual pronounciations (where I am anyway) are -

Celyn - Kellin
Eira - Ay-ra
Betsan - Bet-san
Teleri - Tell-erry
Mabli - Mab-lee
Sioned - Shon-ed
Ffion - Fee-on
Anwen - Anne-wen

Gruff - Griff
Dafydd - Dav-ith ('ith' as in 'with')
Iolo - Yoh-loh (like 'yellow' but 'yollow')
Iago - Yah-goh
Macsen - Max-en
Elis - Ellis
Eban - Ebban
Iestyn - Yes-tin
Ieuan - Yay-an

I think the easiest from your lists would be
Betsan
Anwen
and
Dafydd

I also like / have you considered

Cerys
Catrin
Delyth

but am struggling a bit with boys' names tbh

Celyn - Sell-en
Eira - Ear-ra
Betsan - Bet-san
Teleri - Tela-re
Mabli - Mab-lee
Sioned - Se/i/o... Give up no idea.
Ffion - Fee-on
Anwen - An-when

Gruff - Gruff, easy but not a good name imo
Dafydd - Daff-id
Iolo - Eye-ollo
Iago - Eye-a-go... But this looks similar to Jago, is it said like that?
Macsen - Mack-sen
Elis - Ellis
Eban - E-ban... Looks to similar to ebay for me.
Iestyn - Eye-estan
Ieuan - You-an... Went to school with a couple of these (born late 70's)

I probably got them all wrong, sorry.

Bunbaker - Moomin got them all, although with Dafydd, the 'th' at the end is the same 'th' as in 'the', 'there' and 'then', not 'with'.

OP - go for the ones where the Saes on here have made a good approximation, I think, or your DC will have a lifetime of correcting people! I wanted to call DS 'Dylan' with the North Welsh pronunciation (DUH-lan), but knew I'd spend his childhood sounding like a bit of a tosser stopping people from calling him 'Dillin', because I knew we were moving to England shortly after his birth. I also wanted to give him the Welsh spelling of 'Tomos', but thought people would assume me/DH just couldn't spell. He's got a name now which could easily be Welsh or English, but I give him a Welsh nickname in private and play 'Gee Geffyl Bach' until my knee can't take it anymore

I've got a boy and girl both on the list! I live in England and never had any trouble with pronunciation but perhaps with spelling!

EBearhug - I was in love with Iestyn Mortimer too! I named my eldest son after him. He was my 3nd literary crush after Gilbert Blythe.

I cannot pronounce any of those!!!
Eira I think Icould get... have you concidered Bromwyn? I always thought it looked rather pretty.

I have two girls with welsh names (Cerys and Bronwen) and we live in England. I thought both would be easy to pronounce, Cerys is fine, but everyone calls Bronwen, BronWIN (and spell it Bronwyn). It makes me irrationally stabby. When I correct people they seem to think I'm being funny or that I'm wrong and carry on. I'd think carefully about whether it will annoy you when people pronounce the name wrong.

I love Ffion, Anwen and Gruff by the way!