Welsh names for a girl

[Zanzan1]

Hi I'm looking for a Welsh girls name but would like to hear from people living in England what works and what doesn't. We live in England at the moment and I am wary of my DD having to put up with people struggling.

I really like Essyllt but know this might be a problem. Would like something a bit more unusual.

Cerys, Rhianna, Myfanwy, Bronwyn and Briony.

Aneira

I have a friend called Myfanwy. She doesn't get My Fanny but she does shorten her name to Myf which in English often translates as Muff.

Shout out to @MikeUniformMike who helped me with my second daughter's name choice! We live in England but my husband is Welsh. We have a Bethan and an Elin. Bethan seems very easy to pronounce and spell for her. Elin - EVERYONE calls her Ell-un. Annoying!

Not RTFT so apologies if something similar has already been said. I have a name from a different language to the country where I was born and grew up. I would advise you to avoid anything that has letters pronounced differently to the language of the place your child will be brought up - so avoid any welsh vowel combinations that are difficult to pronounce in English for example or the LL sound, or F which is a V in welsh. Your child and you will spend all your time correcting it which is very tiresome.

Sorry to clarify an F in welsh is pronounced as a V in English is what I meant.... To get the sound of ‘F‘ in welsh you need a FF

I've been learning Welsh for a few years and lived there for 15. Not heard Esyllt, would struggle to pronounce.

Briony, however you spell it, isn't welsh. Many of the suggested names are misspelt.

Suggest any name to me and I'll point out the pitfalls regarding spelling and pronunciation.

Myfanwy will be Miffamway. Elin will almost certainly be Ellin or Ellen, Bethan Bethun etc. Beautiful names made plain.

Mererid is nice but will be MERR-er-id when it is Mer-ERR-id. Eleri ELL-uh-ree etc. The stress in Welsh is always on the penultimate syllable.

Not Welsh but living in Wales... My favourite girls names are Catrin, Loti, Mali, Nia (very popular, there are 3 in my son's form!) and Eira. Avoid Myfanwy at all costs!

Myfanwy -yes avoid for sure although I love it, it's soooo Welsh Aunty

And Fanw for short, they always were

How about Dona. It's a saint's name and pronounced Donna.
Lona is pretty and pronounced to rhyme with Rona.
Or Eos.

Here is a link to a site of popukar names from 3 yrs ago:nameberry.com/blog/the-top-welsh-names-in-wales

The pronunciation guide is way out, and some of the names strike me as being Welsh names that non-Welsh speakers would use.

Loti

You also get Eila, Nansi, Magi and a few others.
I think Loti's nice but it is just a phonetic spelling of Lottie. I think Charlotte is Siarlot.

Ffion
Gwennan

I’m Welsh... teach at a Welsh school in North Wales and go about 95% of my life in Welsh. When I lived in the South of England for a short time, my name was usually mangled (I got Seri!) but I still like my name and I’m pleased I’ve got a Welsh one.

I like Carys (and know a four year old one born to Welsh parents so wouldn’t say it was strictly old fashioned) and Anwen (know a seven year old again born to Welsh parents) and also like:

Cerys
Elin
Cadi
Alys
Mali
Eira
Gwen
Arwen (don’t think this is actually Welsh but it works in Welsh very well)

Some of the suggestions are a bit silly (Gwylan is the Welsh word for seagull so please don’t use that) and inaccurate.

Others are just Welsh phonetic spellings for English names.

Pob Lwc!

*I would guess the parents of Eleri, Rhian and Carys are not Welsh-speakers. Anwen seems very dated to me. It was old fashioned in the 70s. The sort of name your friend's aunty would have if you were born in the 1970s.

Sioned was very popular in the 1960s and 70s but didn't fade away.

I'm from the north.

Bryn and Gareth crop up on nearly every Welsh boy's name thread but are names that are common in the 50-65 age group.*

Not my experience at all. I’m in the North, very Welsh speaking area. All of these names are names of children in the very Welsh village primary, with Welsh first language parents. Carys and Anwen’s parents are so Welsh they are less confident speaking English. Ditto Sioned’s, actually.

Bold fail, sorry. But local to me, these are classic Welsh names that are common in all generations

My friends mum is Eirydd which I think is lovely.

Seren sounds lovely but I don't like any of the others, just not my style really

Lovely to see my girls names here.

Celyn and Carys