Dafydd

[Welshgirl2019]

My husband and I are Welsh (kinda obvious ) and live in south East England and love this for a boys name. Just checking ppl are familiar with the spelling and pronunciation of the name? silly question really.
I've never come across a Dafydd in England before

It's easy for non Welsh people to pronounce (once told) and it's very nice. Also like the nns Dai and Daf ("Dav"). Go for it.

Tell us how to say Iestyn and Elliw please!

I like the name.

As for all the posters saying people will mispronounce- surely nowadays people are used to coming across names from different cultures to their own and learning to pronounce them? Particularly children.

I know how it’s pronounced. I can hear someone with a Welsh accent saying it in my head. Can I (SE England) wrap my tongue around it? No I cannot

Same with Gruffydd I’m afraid.

Face - Iestyn is pronounced Yes-Tin.

Elliw is harder to explain unless you know the Welsh ll sound. Sort of Eh as in elephant, then the ll sound, then lew to rhyme with loo. Ish.

I'd assume that it was pronounced like David 😳

Welsh person living in England.
Go for it. Dafydd's not going to be the most exotic name they hear or have to spell. My dc cope with all sorts of non English names without batting an eyelid.

I used to teach not a Dafydd, but a Daffyd! Made me cringe.
We pronounced it as if it were spelt correctly, but really it should’ve been daffid spelt like that.

This was in Wales, too!

Thanks for all the responses. I was a teacher for 8 years. Had lots of lovely, unique, non English names and no one got upset with learning a new name and the correct pronunciation.

@Welshgirl2019

I wasn't suggesting they'd get upset with learning it, mainly that the majority of new people they meet would have to have it spelled/pronounced for them and it could get tiresome. Doctor's surgeries, anyone who ever calls asking for him from a bank or other company...

Not necessarily a reason to avoid the name, just worth considering.

mainly that the majority of new people they meet would have to have it spelled/pronounced for them and it could get tiresome. Doctor's surgeries, anyone who ever calls asking for him from a bank or other company...

Just like Steven/Stephen, Sarah/Sarah, Graham/Graeme, Alistair/Alasdair, Amy/Aimee, Nicola/Nichola, Ceri/Kerry/Kerrie, Claire/Clare, Hannah/Hanna, John/Jon, Anne/Ann, Catherine/Kathryn.....

The character in Little Britain was 'Daffyd' written like that.
As others have said, it is pronounced Dav-ith, the th part like the th in the, there, ...

Just like Steven/Stephen, Sarah/Sarah, Graham/Graeme, Alistair/Alasdair, Amy/Aimee, Nicola/Nichola, Ceri/Kerry/Kerrie, Claire/Clare, Hannah/Hanna, John/Jon, Anne/Ann, Catherine/Kathryn..

Yep, pretty much. Except many of those are pronounced the same way or have two main pronunciations so there's a decent chance of getting it right the first time.

The whole point of Op's post was to ask if people could pronounce and spell the name. Answer, mostly no. If that's not something she considers to be an issue that's fine, but she did ask.

Elliw - E as in Eddy
ll - no english sound matches this. It is not like 'll' in English, or whatever anyone tells you, 'thl' or 'cl'.
iw - as in ewe

Lovely as the name Elliw is, do not use it if you are not welsh-speakers living in a welsh-speaking area.
Same goes for Lleucu, Llio, Llinos etc.

I find the ll sound is the one English speakers seem to struggle with the most. I think you have to be shown, although even then there is a tendency for people to still say CL.
A friend manages it on the first part of Llanelli but the second one comes out as a TH. She just can't do it

I've spent my whole life having to give my surname and automatically tell the person on the phone, receptionist how to spell it. I just say my surname and then follow up by saying the letters as no one would spell it correctly.
I suppose it's never bothered me but if it was my first name I might be more fed up by it.
I'm surprised at how divisive a Welsh name can be!

I love Welsh names ( am Welsh myself ). I like it though the spelling reminds me of Daffy ( as in duck ). Probably just me though .

The trouble with the 'll' is that even if you tell or show people how to say it, they won't necessarily get it right.
If I were Elliw and people said Ethlyoo, Eclyoo, Echlyoo I'd hate it.
If they said Elyoo, I'd probably not mind too much.
If they said 'Ellie, can't your parents spell?' or 'how the f* do you say that?', I'd probably be distraught.

Another name to avoid, although it's nice is Urien. I think it's a strong name that sounds almost wizardy.
It's pronounced Irr-yen.

I love Dafydd, it was tentatively on our boy list (tentatively because of our surname)

I'm also really keen on Gruffydd but sadly non-Welsh speakers would probably just call them Gruff instead of "Griff"

I would use the nn Griff for Gruffydd. I know a few Griff/Gruffs. I like it as a name and prefer the Griff spelling.
I think Dewi gets said as 'dewy' in non-welsh speaking circles. The De in Dewi is the same as in Dennis. It seems a bit old-fashioned to me.

Iestyn always gets a positive response on these threads, but I don't know many. I can only think of 1.

As a native Welsh-speaker, many of the Welsh names sound awful to me when mispronounced (cf. Gisele in a French accent with Jiss-Elle on a UK housing estate) . I keep meaning to draw up a list of names that work in non-Welsh circles.
CBA to look for accent codes.

Fool, thanks for the pronunciations! I love Iestyn.

one of my colleagues is a Garth from N. Ireland and he is constantly having to correct people who call him Gareth

Lovely name. I hadn't heard it until I met one at uni, but I've met several others since. Non-issue re people getting it wrong - who cares unless they are close friends, who will learn the right version anyway.

So is it pronounced Davith? I find that quite hard to say for some reason.

reminds me of daffyd from little britain - the only gay in the village