Welsh origin baby names that northerners can say and spell!

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Help please!

My DH is welsh and I’m a Yorkshire lass! He would like to use a welsh name and I’m not adverse to the idea as long as I like the name and northerners can pronounce it properly. We live in a Yorkshire city. I looked through the thread the other day but still want a bit of inspiration. I’m a teacher so a bit funny about names at best of times! Hit me with your suggestions both boy and girl. So far we like Elis for a boy and Carys for a girl but not 100% decided. Thanks

Congratulations.
I would probably use the welsh name as a middle name, unless you are confident that it won't get mangled.
I have posted before about letters and letter combinations to avoid.

A good compromise would be something like Vaughan or Lloyd, both great names in themselves.

Elis will get his name misspelt, and will get called Elsie a lot. In my age group it was every Neil being called Nelly.

If you search for Welsh names there are loads of threads usually with me on them

Avoid the letter combinations
ow, yw, uw, ei, eu, ae, au, ai, aw, iw. ce, ci, ge, gi, ngh, wy, ar, ir

Avoid f (ff is a single letter not two letters), rh, ll, dd, u

Avoid -in, -en, -an endings unless you don't mind the anglicised pronunciation.

Other anglicised names: Tudor, Owen

I dislike Dylan, Cariad and Seren.

Another option would be to go for a name that doesn't sound awful in a strong Welsh accent. I like Mary but ruled it out because it would have been pronounced Merry by relatives.

I missed out
ew e.g. Dewi and
cy e.g. Cynan.

I love the girls name Seren! I'm from Wales but live close to the border and this is the name I will be using for my baby girl who is due today!

I can't help with boys names as I could never find one i really loved.

Oh hope your baby girl arrives soon @welshgirl1980. I like Seren but we have 3 friends with Dd called this!

Thanks for lots of advice @MikeUniformMike

Bethan
Megan
Elinor
Enid
Sian
Nia
Reece
Erin
Gwyneth
Rhian/Rhiannon
Seren

Harri
Owen
Rhys
Dylan
Bryn

My middle name is sian and my youngest daughter has the middle name cerys never had any problems with spellings or pronunciations

Brownwen or Rhys.

I disagree about avoiding certain names, vowels etc. I think you should go for whichever name you like, people will get used to it.

We have friends with a son called Elis (no, he doesn't get called Elsie) and our son is Ivor, a name we really love.

I always loved the name Catrin!

The reason I say avoid them is that people don't get used to them or can't say them.

As much as you like a name, think long and hard about how practical it is.

If you said I love the Conn and Penny but my husband is French, people would say don't name your DTwins those names.

If you love the name Euryn and name your DS it, how long before you get sick of explaining that it isn't pronounced like that.
Euryn is a perfectly nice name meaning golden one.

I’ve always like Bethan and it’s phonetic.
Nia gets confused with Mia. Rhian is nice but there are variants which can get confusing.
Bryn is strong boys name.

Really like Cerys and Rhys.

Evan
Llewelyn
Gethin
Rhydian (maybe too hard)
Lloyd
Griff
Macsen
Lewis
Nye
Bryn
Emrys
Gareth
Rhodri
Idris

Morgan

Gwen (Gwennan or Gwenllian - I know GwenLLian is super hard but cute!)
Bronwen Branwen
Anwen
Morwenna (Cornish/Welsh origin)
Arianwen
Betsan
Catrin
Mabli
Megan
Manon
Tegan

I disagree about avoiding certain names, vowels etc. I think you should go for whichever name you like, people will get used to it.

This. People are used to lots of different names which don't observe conventional spelling. Siobhan, Sean, Michaela, Hermione, Phoebe... these are just names that most people have learned to pronounce because they encounter them, or because famous people have them (Hermione Granger, Sean Connery!). Welsh names need to be heard beyond Wales for people to learn about them. Go for it!

(Ha, can you tell I gave my kids Welsh names that nobody can pronounce... but I don't regret it)

Sorry to derail btw. Elis and Carys are both lovely names.

Cerys
Siân
Catrin
Alys
Deryn
Elin

Jac
Owain
Ifan
Siôn
Geraint
Cai

Rhys and Ffion were my first thoughts 😊

What happens is that people will think I'm not even going to try or they will attempt to say it.

When they ask you if you are Bud-ug Clee-ookoo Prid-urtch you will cringe, and it will happen again and again all your life, regardless of how lovely the name Buddug Lleucu Prydderch is in a welsh voice.

And you might love the name Urien but it won't be you being called Urine by your schoolmates.

Llio is nice but will be Leo, Clio, Thlio, Lilo...

Tesni - tessny not tesny

You could ask someone from both sides of the family to read your shortlist out loud, so that you could hear the right way and the mangled way.

I'm not sure that Tesni would sound nice in a broad yorkshire accent . Wouldn't it be Tez-neh.

Interesting feedback thanks! I’m really not a fan of Rhys!

Yes it would be tez-ney! Awful.

Would Elis be pronounced wrong?? I’ve shown it written down to my coworkers and they would all pronounce it. Not sure how you would come to Elsie!

The difficultly is, if you know how it’s pronounced you can’t preempt what other people will go for!

Elis is very popular in Wales. I could never get why Neils always get called Nelly but they do.

Elsi is the welsh spelling of Elsie.

Biblical names are often pronounced phonetically in Welsh.
Joseph is pronounced Joss-eph, Jacob is Jack-ob, Lois is Loyce and so on. Ruth is sometimes pronounced Rewth. Some of the biblical names are different - James is Iago, Andrew Andreas, John Ioan.

Run a name past me and I can probably guess how it will get mangled.

The mangling works both ways. You get welsh people who hardly ever speak english. Certain vowel sounds aren't used in Welsh.
Tracey in some regions is said as Tressy.

@MikeUniformMike so we currently like Elis for a boy and Carys for a girl?

Similar criteria to you.

We used Ellis as it was the more common spelling in both England and Wales (according to ONS). Only time we have had mispronunciations was on holiday in the states and they thought I was calling him Alice!

Our other names on the list were:
Gethin, Huw, Griff
Eira, Nia, Eirlys