German speakers - Cerys for a girl in Germany?

[WoollyHooligan]

I'm 24 weeks pregnant with a girl and have been really grumpy when it comes to names so far (I'm totally blaming the hormones ).

I finally decided that I quite like Cerys, but we live in Germany, and I can't decide if it's too unusual and whether it will constantly be mispronounced and she will grow up hating it.
German DH quite likes it, but I wanted a few outside opinions too. Am I setting her up for a nightmare or is it just on the right side of unusual? I don't really want to tell family & friends here yet as I prefer the name to be a secret until the baby is born.

Help!

(I should maybe add that although I'm not Welsh, my DF and his side of the family are.)

Also: DH vetoed Carys as it sounds like Karies

Try it out on a few locals. I suspect that it will be pronounced incorrectly at first attempt but that it will generally be pronounceable for a German native speaker. I think the names to avoid are those with a sound that Germans generally can't pronounce (e.g. names with a 'th' sound and often those starting with a 'j'). Friends here (in Munich) have a daughter named Rhiannon and that's works fine.

Also does it go with your dh's german surname?

'Y' is pronounced something like 'oo' in German so a German reading aloud may initially pronounce the name something like 'ka-roos'. (Ask a German to say 'system' in German to hear how 'y' sounds).

Charis would be an easier spelling to pronounce but the origin of the name is not the same if you are looking for a welsh connection.

How about Kerrin instead?

A German would pronounce system 'sis TAME'. The Y is not a problem.

I think Cerys would be fine. The R will be rolled a bit but I think it sounds pretty.

I know a German Charis and a welsh Carys who lives in Germany. Don't think it causes a problem so I don't see why Cerys would...

We had a similar problem with Anwen, by the way, dh said it would make a child sound like something out of a letter 'An wen... '

Just don't go for Chloe

Woolly, why don't you try starting a thread on Leo, asking the German speakers there how they would pronounce it. The Land und Leute section would be best.

dict.leo.org/forum/index.php?lang=de&lp=ende

I agree with Ms Coconut that there is a danger it would be pronounced Keh-rüs or Care-üs. Psammead, perhaps the pronunciation differs in different parts of Germany, but here in Berlin system is said süs-tame, the sys is very similar to süss.

We deliberately went for fairly standard European names for their first names and hard-to-say Irish middle names, which has never been a problem because middle names are hardly ever used in German (and certainly never spoken). Would that be an option?

Names I know have caused great problems: James was known as ya-mess and Rachael became Rak hay ell.

Arch surely everyone can pronounce James, because of Miss Sophie/ Dinner gor One... :o The first time my BIL met me he thought ot eas hilarious to make "English" jokes, mostly featuring butlers and chauferrs called James...

• missed point sorry! I can't add much useful about Cerys, I agree sge / you will have to tell people how to say and spell it, but that once that is done it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I'm not a German speaker but I have a Cerys and all our German friends (admittedly they live here in England) have no problem with saying it correctly.

It's a beautiful name. I hope you get to use it :)

I don't think, practically speaking, that Rachel or Jsmes are generally a problem.

I wanted Ieuan. I went for something a bit more generic in the end

Thank you for all your responses!

So it doesn't sound like it would be completely out there, which is a relief :) DS has a very well known (English) name, which is sometimes mispronounced, but we have a very, very German surname, so I was fairly insistent on an English name for him, and luckily we found one that DH and I both really liked.

Let's see if it's still the only name I like in het he autumn when she's due!

I know a James here - most people pronounce it correctly because of the James Bond / Dinner for One connection, but he does get the occasional 'dzhaem-es' or 'yaem-es'. I think any name could be mispronounced though.
My name is fairly international (I think) and has been in the top ten lists here for a few years, but people sometimes use the anglicised version when they learn I'm English.
I was just worried Cerys would lead to a lifetime of irritation for DD!

I have a very welsh name (causes me problems in England) and live in Germany. It's actually not that bad here at all, I think because people just ask how it's pronounced and are happy to keep trying til they get it right. I love Carys and wanted that as our DD's middle name but DH unfortunately wasn't keen. We went with Elin

Oops on my phone and posted too soon! Basically I would go with it if you both like it and it goes with your surname. Might want to double check with the standesamt that they will accept it. They are quite strict about the name criteria in some regions.

"Arch surely everyone can pronounce James, because of Miss Sophie/ Dinner gor One"

That's a fair point which had me wondering for a few minutes, but I think it might be because the James I know who put up with all sorts of mispronunciations lived in East Berlin in the early 1990s, and the East Berliners had less tradition then of Dinner for One - it was always shown on West German TV, wasn't it? Now it gets shown on NDR, so perhaps there's more knowledge. To be honest, most younger Germans these days are sophisticated enough to know how a name like that is said without resorting to ancient creaking Silvester specials (can you tell I'm not a Df1 fan?)!

I am German, dh is English and after a few test runs Cerys is dd's middle name.
People had no clue how to pronounce it and found it very odd.
Her first name now is still very unusual in Germany, but easier to read and much more palatable.