Emrys or Huw?

[nightandthelight]

Title says it all really! Love both names, I probably prefer Emrys and DH prefers Huw but we are open to both. Emrys is presumably less well known to non Welsh speakers. My Dad is called Hugh though so wondering if that will cause issues.

Any thoughts much appreciated :)

Ha ha squoosh!

I thought the same thing the second I posted it...'Oh, now they'll all think I'm a bloke called Hugh'

In the Valleys here
Now muttering Huw to myself
I either say it as Hugh
Or I can change it if I go all Welshy as we say here
There is more rising inflection and a bit of a drawn out Oo in the middle
A small child is looking at me in bewilderment as his name is not Huw.

erm... as a Welsh speaker who works with Welsh speakers I am a little bit confused about how people thing Huw should be said?
It's pretty much the same as the Hugh pronunciation ... or are you all pronouncing Hugh in a different way to me?

I once shared a flat with a Welsh speaking Welsh Huw and an English Hugh and they pronounced their names the same.

Hughs that I know pronounce Hugh like it rhymes with pepe le pew or eww. Is that how other English speakers pronounce it?
Whereas I, and other welsh speakers where i live pronounce Huw differently but I don't really know how to describe it. It doesn't really sound like or rhyme with any English words I can think of.

I think like a lot of things in Wales it depends which but you are in! When I moved from mid to south Wales I didn't know how to pronounce anything anymore :)

Yes I was thinking that it is probably a accent/ dialect issue that changes the pronunciation.
Either way though, I still prefer Emrys

Emrys! (Whispers: extremely biased as my DS is Emrys)

My Taid was Huw pronounced Hugh. Assume he knew how to pronounce his own name, Welsh being his first language and all.

My West Walian first language speaking friends would all pronounce them the same way. South Walian friends might say 'hew' because of their accent. Same as the Welsh word 'blew' so it's not an 'oo' sound but more an 'eh' sound but the Welsh pronounciatiom of Huw is the same as Hugh.

in my kids welsh speaking school, Huw is pn 'Heww' (sort of!!) the w is sounded on the end. Hugh is like you with a soft h on the front.

Of the two names, I prefer Huw. There are more Huw's in the kids school than there are Emrys's, but only about 3 out of 260 odd names!

yes abe. You said it much better than me!

I'm welsh and starting to think I've been pronouncing Hugh incorrectly. Thankfully I don't know any personally but would like to apologise to Hugh Jackman and Hugh Laurie.

Maybe it would be better to go for Emrys? Or something else entirely?

i've known a Huw very well for nearly 25 years and he loves his name. pronounciation has never been an issue, please don't let anyone put you off because of this.

I think in South Wales Huw and Hugh would be pronounced the same. I certainly would say them so that they sound exactly the same. However Outside Wales would some people pronounce it more like H-you?

Anyway both nice names, think I marginally prefer Emrys.

I know lots of hughs and huws and in my accent they are pronounced the same. Welsh speaking south walian.

Huw. But a know a lovely one. ☺