Welsh Baby Girl Names

[mamatobe20]

Hello!

I am expecting my first baby in September. I'm English, my partner is Welsh. We'd like to call the baby a Welsh version of an English name (if that makes sense!).

The only ones I know of are Mali (welsh for Molly) and Ffibi (welsh for Phoebe).

Please hit us up with any other ideas! We don't want traditional welsh names due to pronunciation issues and living in England.

Thank you!

Love Bethan and Efa
Beti
Cari
Ffion
Ailey/Ailey/Aely
Alwenna
Anwyn/Anwen
Alys
Seren

Carys
Sara
Beca
Erin

I'm due to have a little girl in a week. My OH is Welsh and I'm English. We live in England and we've chosen Cerys

Menna

Manor
Tirion

Manon ! Spell check

Efa is lovely

Mererid = Pearl

Someone i work with called his dd Arianwyn, spelling maybe wrong on my part though!

Mabli (Mabel)
Elsi
Betsi

I would choose Ceri or Elin.

I’d probably throw in some Welsh names that work either way

Like

Rhiannon
Seren
Bethan
Carys
Bronwyn
Gwyneth
Gwen

Which no one should struggle with pronunciation wise.

Anwen is a bit like Annette. It is Ann+Gwen (as is Gwenan).

Some of the names listed are not right.

I've never seen Ffibi before.

I would exercise caution because a lot of the names are hard to pronounce if you don't speak Welsh and don't sound all that nice when anglicised. It's not great to have your name mangled, and maybe you can teach someone to say a name, but you'll be doing it all your life, and some people can't be taught.

I would avoid names containing C followed by i or e (e.g.Ceri, Cerys), names with vowel combinations that are diphthongs (ae, ia, eu), any name containing LL, names containing a single F, names containing dd.

Enfys (Rainbow)

Names that are fairly easy are:
Mari (Mary)
Catrin (Catherine)
Cadi (Katie)
Mali (Molly)
Elin (Helen)
Elen (Ellen)
Mared (Margaret)
Betsan (Betsy)
Ffion (Foxglove)
Nia (Niamh)
Manon (a form of Marion)
Dona (welsh saint)
Gwen (White/blessed)
Tesni (apricity)

I'd also avoid names with more than two syllables unless it is obvious how to say them. Eleri (Hilary) is pronounced El-ERR-y, but it isn't obvious unless you know.

My friend is Eluned which I think is a really pretty name.

That's my daughter's name! She loves it and doesn't mind having to spell/pronounce it for everyone (we're in England) but it DOES get badly mangled - she's had party invites addressed to 'Leonard' or 'Lean-Head'!

Ffion is nice and quite safe as it's had some English exposure from Ffion Hague.

Arianwyn should be Arianwen. I'd avoid it because it will be said as Arry Anwin, not as Arr-YAN-wen

Bronwyn should be Bronwen

-wen names are for girls, and -wyn is for boys.

I didn't suggest Mererid because it will get said as Merruh-rid. It is Merr-ERR-id.

Enid would work. It's an old welsh name, and pronounced Enn-id.

Marged (Margaret) is nice but the ge is like the get in get.

I'll suggest Siwan (Joan) but it has 2 pronunciations - one being like Iwan but with an S, and the other SHOO-ann.

A bit dated, but Carys (Love) and Delyth (Pretty) are easy.

A bit more out there - Gwennol (Swallow), Eos (Nightingale), Gwylan (Seagull)

OP I'm half English/half Welsh and have one of the names suggested. Just a word of warning, some people are very rude when they find out the English version of my name and want to call me that instead.

My favourite Welsh girls names are:

Mari (pronounced Marry, this is Welsh for Mary. Mair is also Welsh for Mary, but harder to say - it's like Myra without the a, but will sound more like Mire in a lot of accents).
Alys (Alice)
Eira (EY-ra, ey as in hey and ra as in rabbit, will be Ay-ruh in a lot of English accents)
Tesni (TESS-nee, means warmth from the sun)
Morwenna - a Welsh born saint who did saintly things in Cornwall

Other suggestions:
Nia (Nia and Osian were lovers in mythology, in Irish they are Niamh and Oisín)
Lili (Lily)
Efa (Eva)
Elsi (Elsie, there is a character called this in the cartoon Stiw)
Lwsi (My Mam says she's seen this used for Lucy, rather then Lleucu which is harder to pronounce)
Nansi (Nancy)
Sali (Sally)
Mali (Molly)
Sian (Jane)
Manon (Marian)
Mabli (Mabel)

There are also some lovely names with no English equivalent like Eira, Eirys, Eirlys and Ffion).

I haven't encountered Ffibi before either.

Mabli (Mabel)
Nansi
Elsi
Beti
Cadi (Kate)
Megan
Fflur (Fleur)
Elen
Elinor
Lora
Lowri
Sioned (Janet)
Catrin (Catherine)
Beca (Rebecca)
Efa (Eva)
Mari
Sian (Jane)
Clio (Cleo)
Sara (Sarah)
Alys
Nel
Ffion (Fiona)
Celyn (Holly)

Thank you everyone!

We love Mabli and Elsi so lots to think about.

Also love Ffion and Efa!

I was pregnant in 1992 and loved Carys.
I had a boy.

Of those I'd go for Mabli.

Elsi will spend half her life saying, "It's Elsi without an E. I mean the E on the end. There's only one E. E-L-S-I." And a lot of people will still spell it Elsie anyway.

Efa will get Effuh.

You could use Perl (Pearl)

I second caution with Welsh names too.
My son is Aeddan Iori, we lived right on the border of England too (Though originally wst wales, now moved back) and barely anyone ever said his name correctly.
He used to get called "Aiden " a lot..
Its the double "dd", that people get caught out on.