Welsh ppl help us! Elin? Middle name?

[rachelrcrossley]

Hello,
I am currently 24wks pregnant with our second child, and it looks like we are having a girl. Husband and I both fell in love with the name Elin, Ellie for short. So happy as I thought we'd never agree! Now starting to worry whether pronunciation will be too much of an issue. I am half Welsh, husband grew up in Wales and we live about 2 miles from the border, so hopefully people will get that it's the Welsh pronunciation. Neither of us are Welsh speakers, and I thought that the pronunciation was 'el-in' with the el as in elephant but I have since heard some Welsh speakers pronounce it more like air-leen. Just feel a bit daft naming our daughter and then potentially getting the pronunciation 'wrong'! Would Elen be easier? The other part of me says there's no such thing as 'wrong' and we should just go for the version we like!

If we do go for Elin the next struggle is with the middle name. Current favour is Eva. Surname is Crossley. Older brother is Owen Arthur if that helps.

What do people think? Any other suggestions? Please help!!!

I wouldn't have Elin/Elen Eva, too similar IMO. On the other hand it goes with loads of other things!

Maybe some Welsh posters can clarify the pronunciation of Elin? It looks very pretty, I like it.

I pronounce it Ell- in. It's a name used quite a bit in our family as a middle name but I always thought it was Greek?

Middle name should start with a consonant.
Elin Grace
Elin Jade
Elin Diane

I know a Welsh Elin who pronounces it eh-lin. I really like it.

You are right, it is pronounced ELL-IN. Beautiful name.

The Eeeleeen pronunciation is probably someone from the south. I'm from the north and we say eh-lin

Not Welsh, but wanted to say Elin is lovely.
Elin Carys

It is pronounced Eh Lin. Lovely name

Elin is lovely - I would always pronounce it exactly as spelled (ELL-in). Disclaimer: I am not Welsh, but knew a Welsh Elin at university who pronounced it that way.

Elin Sophia is very pretty.

Thank you so much for all the responses, feeling much more confident about our choice now! Now just need to get the middle name sorted... x

From south Wales, Welsh speaking, and I would pronounce it Eh-lin. Lovely name

Am also from South Wales and read it as eh-lin. Some South Wales accents can have an 'air' sound when it should be an 'eh' sound, for example with 'bread'. Some pronounce it 'br-air-d' or b-air-d' for bed. So I would guess the Air-leen pronounciation you've heard is possibly just accent differences!

Lovely name. I quite like Elin Eva.

Its generally known as Eh-Lin here. I think the scandanavian version of Elin is pronounced Eeee-lin?

Ellie isn't a nickname, it's longer than Elin?!

And from experience, be prepared for people to say it as "Ellun/Ellen" and mishear it as "Erin"

South wales here Eh-lin I think its pronounced. What about Elin Rose ... two nouns is a bit of a gobful I think but that's only my opinion.

Love the name. Wouldn't go with a short E middle name with though- quite hard to say and detracts from the first name.

Thank you so much everyone!
Ooo I like Elin Rose, does anyone think Elin Rose Crossley sounds strange because Rose is also a verb and Crossley an adverb if that makes any sense?! Don't want her name to read like a sentence! X

Im from south wales and speak fluent welsh, i went to school (welsh school) with about 4 elins and knew a good few out of school that werent welsh fluent. The ones i went to school with were all elin as in "air-leen" and the ones i bothered with out of school were all elin as in "eh-lin". Because we went to a welsh school and spoke fluent welsh where as the others went to english speaking schools and had english as their first language, the pronunciation was different as even though elin is a welsh name, first language welsh (fluent welsh) and second language welsh (non fluent) are completely different and it depends what you spoke as to how you pronounced it. That probably doesnt make a lot of sense haha. If you live in england, its likely everyone will say it as in "eh-lin" because they wont be aware of the welsh pronunciation. Lovely name by the way x

Elin Eira? (Too many Es perhaps)
Elin Rhiannon
Elin Nia
Elin angharad
Elin Anwen

I think Rose works fine with Crossley to be honest! I think short middle name is nice with Elin. Also quite like Elin Faye.

I love Elin Fflur.

Elin Fflur is a well-known singer.

As others have pointed out, the long E sound comes from a tendency in some of south Wales to elongate the last but one syllable of many words, it's just an accent difference.

We have an Elin, pronounced Eh-lin, I'm from S Wales but live in England. N problems at all with pronunciation but some rather patchy spelling!
She's an Elin Kate.

Welsh speaker here.
I know an Elin well. Be careful because few people in England or even her family (who are welsh but English speaking) can pronounce it properly
So like eh-llin but the i is a hard i not a soft i.
Hard i is like the ee in been, except much shorter, no real equivalent in English.
The emphasis is on the first syllable though.
She lives in england now and gets called eh-llin with a soft i or just Ellen.
I know it does her head in!

I know an Elin Lucille. Love the name!