Welsh speakers ahoy!

[whatausername]

Is Aelfwynn a Welsh name or is it from some other culture? Is it a 'real' name or a more modern invention - anybody know?

It sounds more Anglo-saxon to me. Like Aethelred, Aethelflaed and so on.

Oh look, a two second google gives the answer.

Aha! The Ae sounded Anglo-Saxon to me too but I am sure I saw it mentioned on a thread ages ago where people were discussing names that were really Welsh and that were mistakenly Welsh hence the confusion. I'll admit I don't tend to google names as it tends to always throw up American websites that claim everything under the sun is not only a name but something spiritual that means the shit of a golden flea on an ancient unicorn wearing a kilt or some such nonsense.

"I'll admit I don't tend to google names as it tends to always throw up American websites that claim everything under the sun is not only a name but something spiritual that means the shit of a golden flea on an ancient unicorn wearing a kilt or some such nonsense."

There are some horrors on baby name sites. I frequently see dodgy pronunciation guides to my name, and lots of other Welsh names. Plus random Welsh words suggested as names - Ffanci, Olwyn, Sarff etc.

Are you looking for a Welsh name?

Hi. Here are some real horrors:
www.sheknows.com/baby-names/welsh-baby-names/

It says that they are names but many are random words, and might appeal to someone who wanted to call their child Savage or wanted to call their son the welsh version of Guinevere or their daughter Wheel or Hearth.

According to a poster on another thread I'm rude and ignorant, so these are probably perfectly normal names.

Cachlleuenaurmewnciltyrhenungorn is a bit long, maybe OP could suggest a nn.

It's Anglo-Saxon and means Elf-friend. I really like it. Shame most Old English names are unusable, as there were some nice ones with cool meanings.

tends to always throw up American websites that claim everything under the sun is not only a name but something spiritual that means the shit of a golden flea on an ancient unicorn wearing a kilt or some such nonsense.

Yeah, there is so much misinformation out there on baby names sites, it's unbelievable. There's at least one extremely popular site where pretty much every name meaning is wrong and seemingly made up from scratch. Really bizarre.

Hearth has a sort of manly charm to it

I'm not sure whether to be insulted or pleased that my name isn't on that list!

I like how they say Aneirin/Aneurin is of uncertain origin, but don't mention the famous poet at all...

Amser as a suggestion cracked me up. Amser gwely... now I've got 'Heno, Heno, hen blant bach' in my head which isn't ideal over 12 hours in advance of amser gwely as it still makes me sleepy

@IVflytrap, how about Elfyn (Elvin)?

Oops, posted too soon. There's a poet called Menna Elfyn.

The actress Milla Jojovich called her new baby girl Osian, and to be fair she explained that it is a a Welsh boys name, however I couldn’t help but chuckle when she claimed it was pronounced “ocean”... I’ve lived in wales for many years now and am fluent and I’ve never heard anyone pronounce it like that. OSH-ANN is how it is pronounced sorry I know is not answering your question but it made me think of it!

If you want some beautiful welsh names, look up names from Mabinogion (Welsh folk/fairy tales).

Definitely OSH-an, an to rhyme with pan

Aelfwyn would make a welsh name - ael=brow, mwyn =gentle

It's not a welsh name.

@Blueswede - I never knew that. Osian is high on my list (DH likes popular names, and a Welsh friend assures me that every other boy in Wrecsam is Osian, and every other girl Seren, which DH likes). I was hoping people wouldn't look at it and think 'Ocean'.

DH told me he really liked Taliesin and I thought we were getting somewhere until I realised he thought it was a girl's name

@MikeUniformMike Elfyn is slightly too... elfin for me to work as a first name... Though nice as a surname.

Saying that, a girl I went to school with had the nickname Elfie, which did suit her, though her real name was something totally different.

I really like the name Osian, but outside Wales I think there's a tendency for people to default to a "schwa" sound at the end without thinking, which does kind of make it sound more like Ocean than Osian, unfortunately. I think if people really do want that sound, they should just choose Ocean as a name. It's in use in France as Oceane, so I don't think it's too out there.