Welsh girls names that work in English

[Greendaisydays]

So far we have
Glesni
Elin
Mali
Lowri
Cadi
Sian

Glesni - not keen
Elin - yes, but you'll get Ellen, Ellin
Mali - yes, but you'll get Marley
Lowri - yes, but they will get Lowry
Cadi - yes
Sian - yes, but you'll get Cyan and Shah-n.

@84TinsOfBeans, Wynne isn't a girl's name.

@mytypeonpaper, Anwyn is not a welsh name and it is awful, Gwendolyn isn't welsh - Gwendolen is but is pronounced Gwen-DOL-en.

Cariad

@mytypeonpaper, Angharid is Angharad. It doesn't shorten to Annie as there is no n in Angharad. Ng is a single letter, not two letters.

Eleri - El-ERR-y not El-airy or Ellery. In some accents the middle syllable might sound like 'air', but it's not right.
Lowri - difficult to get the ow right if you don't speak welsh
Eluned, - El-LYN-ed
Sian, Shahn, but the a is flat and broad
Seren SERR-enn - awful,sorry.

The E in Eluned and Eleri are barely pronounced, and the names sound almost like LYNNed and LERRy.

Eira and Eirlys won't work because you will get Ay-ruh or Ira, and Air-liss or Errliss, Eyr-lees etc.

Not keen on Dilys.
Delyth is probably in her 50s or 60s, so a granny name.

Gwenie isn't welsh. Neither are Gwennie and Gwenna.
Gwennol is nice.

Efa will be pronounced like heifer without the h.

Rhian is dated IMO, likely to have been at school with Delyth. It is pronounced RHEE-ann not Ree-Anne, or REE-un.

Cariad is awful. It is pronounced CARR-yad not Carry-ad. It isn't a name, it's a term of endearment.

Cerys will be Cerise or Serris.

RH is a single letter is welsh and sounds like R and H being said at the same time.

Meghan!

@MikeUniformMike Angharad can be shortened to Annie as that is my best friends name and NN. Anwyn is welsh so......

@mytypeonpaper.

If Angharad shortens her name to Annie that is up to her - she could shorten it to Addie or Angie or Hari or whatever, but you are talking out of your backside in saying that Anwyn is a welsh name.

The letters in Angharad are A Ng H A R A D. No n.

@MikeUniformMike have you actually looked up in Anwyn is welsh name before coming on here getting aggressive and talking bollocks? And Angharad does frequently get shortened to Annie so yet again you are mistaken.

@mytyooeonpaper, I do not need to look up Anwyn.
If it was a welsh name it would be a boy's name. Ann+wyn, which if you think about it would be ridiculous.

• wyn indicates a boy.

I am not being aggressive or talking bollocks.

It is you who has come on here suggesting non-names or misspelt names.
Angharad is an established old welsh name. I know several.

I know several Anwens.

Angharad may get shortened to Annie but it is a bizarre shortening, because as I have already posted twice There is no N in Angharad.

It isn't An-gharad. it is Ang-harad.

Anwyn is definitely not a Welsh girls name. Names ending in 'wen' are female, names ending in 'wyn' are male.

I know an Alwen (female) and an Alwyn (male). Anwen is female. As are Olwen and Bronwen. Bronwyn is often suggested on here but it is a misspelling and mispronunciation of Bronwen. Olwyn is the Welsh word for wheel and very much not a name. The 'wen' and 'wyn' in Welsh names have real meaning and are not interchangeable. Unfortunately people do get them wrong sometimes when naming their children.

OP - I have one of the names on your list. Born and raised in England (Welsh mother). I love my name and don't regret it, but most people say it wrong initially and need correcting. Most of those people still say it wrong after being corrected. It doesn't bother me much, but it bothers my mother. Feel free to PM me and I'll say which it is privately.

I hope to use Welsh names for my children, subject to DH's agreement!

I like:

Eira - (EY-ra, ra as in rabbit. I can live with EY-ruh, my own English accent defaults to ruh for ra in names like Lyra and Lyla, but it may bother you)
Tesni - (TESS-nee) means warmth from the sun. I love this, thought of it as soon as I saw Glesni on your list
Morwenna - a Welsh-born saint who did her saintly stuff in Cornwall.
Alys (Alice) - I love this spelling, doesn't have the 'lice' element of Alice
Nia - I worked with one and most people managed to say it correctly
Ffion - I love this but my aunt used it for my cousin - the Ff may cause issues though
Seren - (SERR-en) my husband really likes this. I know my mother doesn't as it's quite a 'modern' Welsh name. Pronounced correctly it's gorgeous, but it may become Sair-un.

I think the most beautiful welsh girls name is Esyllt, but it won't work in England due to the Ll. It's the Welsh form of Iseult.

Esyllt is lovely. I also like Mallt, Llio, Lleucu...
Unfortunately, many can't distinguish between LL, CH and THL.

Anwen to me seems very dated - a 1940s baby name. It is popular with Welsh people who don't speak welsh.
It was a mum's name when I was at school with the Carys, Rhian, Sian and Bethans.
Alwen or Awen seem fresher.

There are lots of beautiful welsh names but many don't work outside a welsh-speaking environment.

I liken the name Seren to Comet. Fine for a pony.

I agree about Esyllt but you are right not a hoe of pronouncing it correctly. Going back to what someone was stridently commenting on earlier in the thread. I can think of lots of English names that can be pronounced more than one way. I’m unsure why to this person pronunciation is so rigid especially as Welsh as a language is varied depending whether you are north or south. I know lots of Welsh people born and bred who pronounce some of the names on here in a way that person is adamant it shouldn’t be pronounced

My family are from Anglesey and very wedded to North Walian Welsh as the only true form of Welsh. I'm taking great delight in learning South Walian Welsh words like Llaeth instead of Llefrith to annoy them

If DH does let me use Welsh names for our kids, and if he agrees to Eira I am definitely teasing my Nain a Taid by pretending I'm pronouncing it as EYE-ra.

Welsh is phonetic, OP, and the stress always falls on the penultimate syllable. Apply this to Ceri and Eleri, and the -eri will sound identical in both.

If you are from south wales the accent is strong, and some sounds will sound different.

To give you an analogy, in Liverpool the local accent means that the name Claire sounds like Clur, but the pronunciation is not Clur is it.

CaffiSaliMali, llaeth is used in N Wales, but llefrith is more usual.
If you asked for llaeth you might get buttermilk.

Mari is another Welsh girls name I like. It's a family name for us.

Lovely, but will get Mahri and Marie.
Marian will get Marianne or Marion.

I've got another
Llion I met a girl at work called this.
Also a lovely lady from Anglesey called Esyllt. Angelsey Welsh is a whole other world, as is Caernarfon. They have their own words for all sorts.
Some of Dd's teachers are from those places and it's a constant topic of conversation at school as they use different words for everyday things. such as milk

Eleri
Cerys

Llion is a boy's name. Llio, unrelated to Llion, is a girl's name.

Dialect is fascinating -there are odd little words that will pinpoint where you are from to very specific areas.

Llaeth is definitely used commonly in North Wales. Llaeth y Llan dairy is near Denbigh. Lovely yoghurt!

Llaeth y Llan trips of the tongue better than Llefrith y Llan. I believe they use The Village Dairy as an alternative name. Not seen their products for years.

I've just looked at their web site and they have prizes for schools.
www.villagedairy.co.uk

In that part of Wales, you would call milk llefrith but might use llaeth in some contexts. For example, milk jug would be jwg llefrith but milk tanker would be lorri laeth.

That's interesting about llaeth and buttermilk. Depending on Coronavirus I may be visiting Anglesey & Holy Island for the first time in 9 years in May, and the first time since I started to learn the language. I will definitely ask for llefrith with tea now! Buttermilk is generally grim and I don't want it in my te!

I mishead heard my Taid saying 'sut dyt ti' as 'sit tooty' for years (he answered to it as well bless him) so will probably make a right idiot of myself!!

My Mam says that you shouldn't address parents and grandparents in informal Welsh - she uses 'sut dych chi' for her parents, said she would never dare use 'sut dyt ti' for them. Is that true generally? My Nain a Taid are quite formal and old fashioned so not sure if this is just a family rule...

OP, to stop derailing, of your list I really like Elin and Cadi.