Tomos, Elis...or something else!?

[Confirm]

DH and I are from South Wales but living in England. Expecting DS2 and completely stuck on names.

DS1 has a welsh name beginning with an ‘I’ which for me rules out Ioan, Iwan, Iolo, Ieuan etc.

DH suggested Tomos and Elis, neither of which I was keen on at first although they are growing on me. Any thoughts?

Other welsh suggestions welcome - Gruff and Osian are already ruled out by DH

You’re up late!
I’m afraid having no knowledge of Welsh names I’m not much help, but I do like both Tomos & Elis
Gruff, not so much!

Gethin
Rhys
Owain
Aled
Steffan
Rhidian

pregnancy insomnia!

Tomos and Elis are lovely!

Dyfan
Vaughn
Maxen
Kane
Carew

Macsen - there's no x in Welsh!
Rhodri
Guto
Dafydd
Sion

Tomos is nice.

Osian
Dafydd
Iestyn
Rhys
Morgan
Dyfan
Cai
Iago
Owain
Ivor
Evan

Oops, Osian is ruled out!

Aled
Bryn
Aneurin
Celyn
Padrig
Emrys
Gwilym
Huw
Meirion
Emlyn
Owen
Taliesin

I'd spell it Griff not Gruff.
Gwilym is currently popular, easy to pronounce and not too complicated to spell (although the i and the y will get mixed up).

Rhidian
Rhodri
Rhys
Dylan
Aled
Morgan
Evan

I really like Tomos.

I really dislike Dylan. It's fine for a man in his 50s, and I know several, but the Dillun pronunciation is horrid.

Dylan is not pronounced Dillon in Welsh though I like it
Gwion
Llyr
Caio
Huw
Llion
Elgan
Sion
Alun
Aled

I worked with a Garan once. Such a lovely name but maybe not if you're in England!

Owain is lovely (as is Tomos though!) Not much help. Cai?

OP lives in England.

Is Tomos a Welsh spelling? In England I think people will assume (as I did) that it is a youniq spelling of Thomas.

I’m the Op, sorry had a brain freeze and managed to delete my account so had to NC.

MikeUniformMike - Gruff is vetoed by DH. He doesn’t like either spelling!

LadyPeacock - Tomos is the welsh spelling

I know Tomos is the Welsh spelling but you would be setting your child up for a lifetime of explaining that it’s not spelt Thomas.

It's not pronounced Thomas though it's Tom-oss

I really like Tomos and we considered it but not keen on nn Tom.

We had a similar dilemma over Tomos with our ds. If you're living in England people will not recognise it as Welsh, they'll just think you're trying to be original with a different spelling of Thomas; and your ds is going to have to spell his name over and over forever. I think it will be a pain, to be honest...

I like Griff, but I can see why people might not.
Tomos is OK.
You need something that sounds OK outside welsh and that won't get mispronounced and misspelt, or that won't vary too much.
Huw, Aled and Gethin would probably fit the bill.
Avoid LL, F, Ce, Ci, Cy, Gi, Ge and vowel combinations like Ae, Au, Ei, Eu, Io, and bear in mind that E and A tend to sound like Uh in an english accent.
Here is how some of the names will get mangled:
Llyr - Clear? Lur? Leer?
Dyfan - Diffun
Llion - Kleye-un, Thleeun
Dafydd - Daffid and misspelt Daffyd.
Meirion - Merriun
Alun - Alan
Celyn - Sellin
Sion - S-eye-un, or as best Shaun
Ieuan - Yeye-un
Dewi - Dew-y or Dowey
Rhys - Reece
Rhydian/Rhidian - Rid-yun

I would go for a biblical name like Sam, Dan, Ben, maybe Marc or a classic name like Edward or John, possibly Harri (but would look yooneek or short for Harriet).

I really like Tomos.

Sorry, probably not helpful.

But it's a bit unusual (imo) without being 'unique', would work in several European countries, is clearly masculine without sound harsh and the spelling is rather intuitive...

I also like Ivor. :)

*sounding

Ivor is the anglicised form of Ifor. Ifor is pronounced Yv-orr (orr like in Sorry). OP didn't want a name starting with I. I can think of several great names starting with I - Iago, Iolo, Iori, Idris, Ifan ...

Shame that Guto Hari didn't make Guto more popular but I knew a Ghee-Toe years ago. English parents living in Wales.

Is there a saint, landmark or river name that would be meaningful?