Welsh speakers advice please

[wineapotamus]

Hi all,
How would you pronounce the name Efa? I'm 3rd generation Welsh and can say things like nos da, mochyn and cariad that my main called me when I was small. My son has a Welsh name that I love and I'd like my little one (due in March) to have a Welsh name too, but I'm getting lots of variation on how this would be pronounced. Like eefah or ever or effer?
Diolch and all that xxx

TwoEvils cer i grafu t'in cont mawr iawn...:)

^^ Dyna ffordd i ateb.

If English people could just learn that phrase in response (with passable pronunciation), Anglo-Welsh relations would rub on just fine.

Dych chi'n dwp Twoevils?

I'm born and bred in deepest Wales OP. I would pronounce it EE-va. However I've never heard it in all my time growing up (but I am old!). My favourite 'easy' Welsh girls names are

Catrin
Nia
Mali

And boys names -

Huw
Alyn
Emerys.

Oh Elph, thank you! I should change my name to MikeAlphaMike, shouldn't I.
Not keen on Gwennan or Gwen. I know several Gwenans, all 50+.

I know some 3/4 English siblings who called their mam-gu Mamgi. Quite sweet but why did they called Motherdog?

call her not called.

Anglo-Welsh relations would be much better if some Welsh people didn't think it ok to use such racist (yes, RACIST) language about English people.

Huw - fine
Emerys - it's Emrys.
Alyn - pronounced Allin not Alan.

I think I know Ceri Grafu

And I suppose the English don't use racist terms about the Welsh?

I think the Welsh (K)not alone puts Welsh speakers in a fair amount of credit when it comes to trading insults, in all honesty.

Or, as above, learn how to say 'oh, go and scratch your big cunt' in response, and pronounce it beautifully, and we can all go share a pint of Brains.

I'm sure some of them do, but on this thread we've had a poster saying that all the English are arseholes and another agreeing that 'yes they are, every one.'

I'm English, although I'm a fluent Welsh speaker, and when I moved to Wales I was really surprised and hurt by the amount of low level racism I experienced, and continue to experience. I've never seen the like of it anywhere else.

The comments on this thread are typical.

See, Elphaba, that's just it, isn't it?

You think that events that happened generations ago give you a free pass to insult any English person, any time. You don't seem to think there's anything wrong with this. You're not alone in it, but it's a very small minded approach.

Should we hate Germans too? How about Italians? After all, the Roman invasions were brutal.

Or should we just grow the fuck up and not go around insulting a whole race of people publicly but smugly thinking they can't understand?

I don't think Elphaba did insult anyone, in fact she suggested we all go for a pint together....

This is what Elphaba said in response to Two's comment -

And yes, twoevils, they all are, without exception

Pretty insulting, I'd say.

oh so she did....well she should cer i grafu as well the cont mawr iawn..:)

I'm scratching, I'm scratching

Also, I'm not Welsh - second language fluent Welsh speaker, my first language is Australian.

You want to hear continuous low-level racism against the English, WellErr, pay a visit to my homeland.

I had a lovely time in Wales - the elderly people I worked with loved me apologising for marrying a Pom and not a nice Welsh boy.

It means 'go to hell you big cunt,' not scratch.

You seem to think it's ok. Whatever. When I hear people talking like you, I always think it says far more about them as a person, than about the English.

(if anyone thinks I am being smug , I told them both to 'go and scratch, you great big cunts')
You can see that the free Welsh lessons were not wasted on me...

'Go to scratch' means go to hell, it's the literal translation but is v much an insult meaning go to hell.

interesting thanks....

Eh-Va (the 'e' sounding like when you say the letter 'A' aloud in English, with without the 'y' sound at the end, iykwim!). It is a lovely name, I know two and they are lovely girls.

I know the idiom, but literally translates as 'go and scratch'. I also accidentally wrote 'your' upthread rather than 'you', preceding 'big cunt'. But I do know exactly what the intention is and why it is the perfect response to 'twll dyn' etc.

(Trying to recall a Welsh idiom for 'lighten the fuck up' and failing...)

Thing is, if I'd gone on a thread saying 'All the Welsh are arseholes' and then a Welsh person pointed out that that was pretty bad form, I'd like to see how they'd respond to 'lighten the fuck up' or similar. Probably not well.

Or any other race, for that matter.

Bwcha bant WellErrr

Anyway, back to Efa. It's in the Bible - Adda ac Efa are Adam and Eve.

I wouldn't use a name ending in 'an' unless you don't mind that it will be prounounced 'un' instead of 'an'.

Eg
Meg-an
Beth-an

Just disappointing to hear 'Meg-un, Beth-un' and so on I think.

I know several of Buddugs MUCH younger than 90.

(Poor things...)