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

Of course it is Patty. Silly me.

(Diolch MUM/MAM)

Buddug is a superb name...

Blimey! I went to work for a few hours and look what happened! I'm probably everyone's least favourite sort, I support Wales in the rugby but speak not a word of it, haven't been to Wales for ages or seen my Welsh relations, but still well up when I hear Land of my Fathers or a male voice choir. I like the idea of honouring my heritage, so thank you very much to everyone who helped me out and gave advice. And I now know what to say to my great aunts and uncles next time I go back for a visit! Aunty Blod will be delighted I've picked up a few words!

I'm Welsh but married to a Sais.... (the rest of the family have never forgiven me). One of my names is Wŷn. Hated it when I was a child but I love it now.

DS has a name that exists in both English and Welsh, I wanted Iestyn or Geraint but was persuaded that as we were living in England at the time he'd face a lifetime of misspelling and mispronunciation. I still regret it though. I should have stuck to my guns

I got full naming rights for DD though - she has a very beautiful Welsh name that is pretty rare even in the Welsher parts of Wales. She now lives in England herself but apart from the tendency of her English friends to pronounce the "s" as "z" people generally get it almost right!

Is your husband really called Wŷn? Never seen or heard that one before. Wyn is quite common as a middle name, and I know a few who have it as a first name, but not with a circumflex. It's a good name as it sounds like Win.
What is DD's name?

No - it's my middle name and it's on my birth certificate complete with the circumflex I was named after my father's sister and got off lightly! My poor father got the full patronymic style.

DD is Tesni ( Tess nee)

I know this has moved on a bit but I feel compelled to back up WellErr here. I completely agree with her. I'm half Welsh, half English. My husband is English. My 9 year old son has had the piss taken out of him at school for having an English Dad. Should I tell him to lighten up and put up with being picked on because of the sodding Welsh Not?!

How strange to put a circumflex on the y - it means than the (welsh) y sound is longer. I rather like the name Tesni. And it has the advantage of the shortened version being pretty and a pretty meaning too.

Don't like Efa much, and I'm not sure that there are many welsh males called Adda.

Efa (e as in elephant, va as in van) is a very well known name where I live in Wales. It is the Welsh version of Eva.

Alun rather than Alyn

air-va. Autocorrect wants 'air-raid'

I've got two girls with Welsh names.

Celyn and Carys.

I would avoid Efa as it is an -a ending which is (more usually) a female name ending in English and I think it would lead to confusion with Eva, too.

I second the suggestion of something less unusual and for which the pronuciation is more fixed.

I love Buddug. It is the Welsh for Victoria and comes from Queen Boudicca so is a very strong female name.

Has anyone said Manon? I love Manon. Never heard Efa and I'm in South Wales

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

Exactly. Even though it wasn't fashionable as a name when I was growing up, everyone knows it because of Adda ac Efa (though Adda is almost never used as a person's name).

I'm quite insulted by all the people criticising their neighbours and acquaintances for giving their children (living in Wales!) Welsh names. I don't dismiss for a moment the problems of living with a 'difficult' Welsh name as I'm living through them myself, but if all Welsh names had to be ones that are easy to pronounce for English speakers we would lose so much.

"I would avoid Efa as it is an -a ending which is (more usually) a female name ending in English and I think it would lead to confusion with Eva, too. "

It is a girl's name. I presume OP's expecting a girl.

I love Essyllt, shortened to Essie but not sure how easy it would be out of Wales.

Manon is gorgeous. I knew two at university and always thought how nice the name was.

Super Celyn is a beautiful name.

Totally biased as I have one too

Not keen on efa, it would be constantly mispronounced. As alternatives to consider what about:

Seren (means star)
Carys (definitely not dated)
Sian
Ffion
Mair (pronounced my-ah)
Mia
Elan

That should read Nia

"Mair (pronounced my-ah)"

No, not pronounced like Myah at all! I can't stand that.
It's pronounced like the word 'my' and then a Welsh r. In phonetics it's [maɪr]
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA_for_Welsh

Sian needs a circumflex accent on the a

Celyn is traditionally a boy's name. I think it's influence from the English Holly that's making people use it for girls.

I agree with Gwenhwyfar. Mair is one syllable. My with r on the end. Like Myra without the a.
I get peed off by mispronounced Welsh names. Angharad is not pronounced Ann Harrod or Ann Garrad. Rhiannon is not Ree Annan and Rhian is not Ree-anne.
Manon is a lovely name.

Carys is dated if you are a Welsh speaker. It is a name of someone in their late 40s or 50s, as is Dylan (not pronounced Dillon). Other hugely popular names of the 1960s are Bethan, Siân, Gareth, Dewi...