Welsh name in England?

[floravus]

I am Welsh, DH is English and we live in England. We are having a boy and like the name Gruffudd (pronounced Griffith) but I'm worried it will be too hard work for DS growing up in England. We did think about Griffin which isn't technically Welsh but along similar lines, but then we thought we should either go full Welsh or just find an English name.

Thoughts?

I’m in England and would know how to pronounce the Welsh spelling. I think you should stick to the Welsh, but maybe it depends on where you live. I’m in London, and children have all sorts of names from every corner of the world. No one would bat an eyelid at it.

I think people would call your child Gruff- ud ie pronounce it phonetically. Id spell it Griffin if that's how you want people to say it.

I'm also English and also know how to pronounce Gruffudd. I would be slightly confused over whether it was his first name or surname, though, as I only really know of Ioan Gruffudd.

Go with the Welsh. Us Welsh are everywhere, who's to say they won't have a Welsh teacher who knows exactly how to say/spell it?

I am Welsh, living in England with dh and dd. Dd has a Welsh name which I do have to explain on occasion but I've also had to explain my previous surname which no-one could ever get right and that was just a normal surname with many different ways of spelling it!

Do what you want, don't ever make decisions about your children based on other people's possible opinions.

I think Gruffudd is pretty accessible to anglophones once you’ve clarified it once. It’s not the simplest choice you could have made, and he will get a lot of party invites addressed to Griffith, but if it’s a name you love and you’re happy to not sweat the small stuff I reckon it’s manageable.

If people can learn how to say Caoimhe then they can learn Gruffudd.

Im Irish and I say go for it. In my opinion all names from the british isles are usable. My whole family except for my mother has English names. People here use english irish scottish and more rarely welsh names as they please.

Caoimhe is completely phonetic btw. If you know Niamh and Aoife then you obviously know how to pronounce Caoimhe.

People do go on like Irish was harder than French.

I have a Welsh name and have always lived in England. It is a pretty common Welsh name but a lot of people have no idea how to pronounce it and think I am male when I am female.

I don't mind particularly, but it makes it harder for others who feel awkward when they call me at work for the first time and expect to speak to a man or if they know they can't pronounce my name and apologise every time they speak to me. My in-laws could never get it right either.

It was more of a problem when I changed my surname when I got married and although it is easy to pronounce it is often mis-heard and mis-spelt too.

You do sign them up to a lifetime of this sort of thing, but it isn't the end of the world.

I'm in England and I know how to say it but then I do live very close to the Welsh border and there are lots of Welsh names at my school. It's a lovely name - go for it!

Oh this is quite positive! We did think he might end up being Griff or Gruff at school but we like both of those shortenings so that's fine. We have a very easy to spell surname so at least that's something.

Go with the Welsh version, far more interesting, Griffin is neither here nor there.

Gruffudd isn't pronounced Griffith. The dd is like th in that not th in thing.
I would use the spelling Griffith to avoid the Gruff-ud pronunciation. Griff is a cool name.

Agree with MikeUniformMike The dd is a single alphabet letter in Welsh and is pronounced as english people would say “this”, not “thin”.
However I think Gruffydd is a lovely name one of the more accessible names for non Welsh people to say properly, but you may get people saying Griffith insead. Local Gruffydds are called Gruff generally, which avoids the dd problem.
I have not seen it spelled with two U s before ?
Gareth might be an alternative ?

Gethin is another alternative.

Yes, I know how to pronounce it in Welsh. As I say, I am Welsh! (I didnt add a description of the 'dd' sound as it is just normal to me, so how you are describing it was how I am saying it, but I don't really care if English people say it with a different 'th' sound)

I might just stick with Peter

Go with the Welsh. Us Welsh are everywhere, who's to say they won't have a Welsh teacher who knows exactly how to say/spell it?

I was brought up in Yorkshire, a teacher taught us all a song in Welsh for an assembly, God knows how we sounded singing in Welsh with Yorkshire accents.

As a Welsh person living in England I think you should be proud of your heritage and not anglicise a name.
The UK is full of different heritages and that's something we take pride in.
Everyone can learn a name x

Everyone can learn a name
I have worked with people who couldn't learn quite mainstream names. Poor Annalise was called Anne Elise, Ann Louise, Anna Lisa ..., Ainley was called Ainsley, Alain was Al-ain... Siobhan was Shiv-on etc

People are very sensitive to their name, so think twice before naming a child something that is likely to cause problems. It won't be you getting your name mispronounced or misspelt on a daily basis.

You cannot teach someone to say some names. Some languages, like Welsh, have sounds that just don't exist in English. Some people have no affinity for languages and will hear a name like Khalid as Haleed.

I think out of the Welsh boys’ names, it isn’t so tricky that it would be constantly messed up. I live in a Welsh speaking area and there are many boys with beautiful Welsh names that would never work in England ( Llyr, Brochan etc) .
Mind you I thought Geraint was easy until I heard Graham Norton pronounce it “Grunt” ..

Wow why should people have to be called Ben and Tom to accommodate others because they might struggle with a name?
(no offence to the names Ben or Tom!)

I work in an international sector and I LEARN people's names. The responsibility shouldn't be on parents because one day someone might not take the time or be respectful enough to learn a name

I've worked with a Geraint in the South East of England. He was called lots of different mispronunciations of his name.
Jer-ain't was the most frequent one. Guh-rant a close second.

You might be willing to learn Newday1, but a lot of people won't be willing to or simply won't be able to.
Every time someone new will encounter the name, they will get it wrong. GP surgery receptionists and so on will not have the time to learn how to say names.
You will struggle to get people to pronounce a name like Rhys or Dylan correctly, because the anglicised forms are popular.

I would go with Griff as a nn and Griffith or Gruffudd on the BC. Gruffydd is an acceptable spelling.

I have a Welsh name and now live in England. Fine once people know how it's pronounced but it's completely mangled most of the time on first sight, which gets a bit irritating the millionth time.

Mac47, what is your name?
I know a Ceri and she says her name is a PITA. She gets Cherry, Serry, Cherie, Surrey...

I have an English name that is pronounced wrong all the time, spelt the usual one of two ways but often get something else entirely. I do think there will always be people who struggle with names, but it's finding a name that is okay a lot of the time. Gruffudd might not be the one for that. I prefer the sound of Griffin but don't particularly like the spelling of it. I won't knock Gruffudd off the list just yet though.