Anwen or iola

[Babybrain12345]

Hi I am welsh and live in Wales although not a welsh speaker but would like a welsh name for our baby girl but can't decide between Anwen or iola. DH loves iola (pronounced Yohla) but it is quite rare where we live so is getting mixed reactions, what do u prefer?

Really like Anwen. Iola no - the pronunciation puts me in mind of yolo.

if you write Iola on a computer everyone will think the name is Lola

It’s the female version of Iolo

I like both. Only recently moved to Wales, there’s a Iola in my daughter’s class. I had never heard it before but I like it.

Anwen.

I like Anwen.

I thought I really liked Iola but I assumed it was Eye-oh-la (like Iona). I'm not keen on Yoh-la.

anwen is lovely.
Iola reminds me ariola (no idea how to spell it, but the bit around the nipple) for some reason

Both sounds really nice (to my non-Welsh ears).

But Anwen does sound a little nicer in my personal opinion.

Congratulations :)!

I like both, but love Anwen.

I much prefer Anwen.

Both lovely I think

Outside of Wales no one will know how to pronounce Iola so on that basis I’d choose Anwen.

Love both names. Too me they are not unusual welsh names. I live in North East Wales but not a Welsh speaker.

My favourite is Iola.

Love anwen. Similar to Arwen which we can’t have as it’s too similar to dc1’s name!

I really like the name Iola but nobody outside of Wales will have heard of it or know how to pronounce it.
Anwen much better.

I am usually pretty good at pronunciation but totally messed up Iola. So I would go for Anwen just to prevent the girl constantly having to correct people like me.

Anwen

Anwen

Not keen on either tbh.

I really like Iola - it’s a bit different but still authentic.

Not fussed on Anwen- it’s a bit Lord of the Rings for my taste, but a solid name all the same

A friend has a Iola. For the first couple of years I kept reading it as Lola because I’d only seen it written down on Facebook and I thought she was just careless with capital letters.

I much prefer Anwen.

Another thumbs up her for Anwen 👍

I once taught an adorable little girl called Iola and instantly loved the name, plus it suited her perfectly! However if you were open to other welsh names I really like Mali and taught another little girl called Cariad (translated to love in welsh) which is also lovely.

Anwen is beautiful.

Anwen much nicer - like PPs I think Iola will get mistaken for Lola and sounds too much like areola!! You really don't want your daughter to get called nipple....