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!

Only speaking from experience tho...goodness the ways that some English people used to say my surname...AND think they were being hilarious..

Eirlys, snowdrop, very pretty and no problems pronouncing it.

I have a welsh name. It gets mangled every time my name is called out. It gets misspelt. When people ask my name, they usually ask me if I mean something else or say 'What?'

Every single time.

The anti-welsh people take the piss by making phlegming and spitting sounds. I have been almost reduced to tears by a colleague who repeatedly did this.

I have also had 'What sort of stupid name is that?' and 'I'm not even going to bother to try and read that', and 'We can't call you that, we'll call you [some random vaguely welsh name]'

@Dan Dean. . That's what I am talking about....Sorry this happens to you.
@Monkey500..ofc there will be pronunciation issues with Eirlys in England. It would probably become Earlies

I wonder what your name is Dan. .Maybe Gwenllian....

Eirlys will be Airless.
The Eir is not easy.

Not wishing to offend anyone as I know a few but I think the name is a bit frumpy, although nice.

We're having Cerys for our daughter. We live in England so expecting a few mispronunciations but we're cool with that. For a boy I wanted Iestyn which would have been far trickier!!!

Like DanDean my Welsh name is often mispronounced. It doesn't bother me much, but it pisses my Mam off. Fortunately I haven't had the phlegming and spitting sounds!

I'm half Welsh, half English, born and raised in England. I am considering names like Mari and Alys as I think these have a decent chance of working in England. I love Eira but accept the 'ra' sound will be 'ruh' in England. My own English accent defaults to that. I still love it though.

I wouldn't change my name though, although it is mispronounced and although some people want to call me the English version instead, generally reactions are positive. I get a lot of 'oh that's really unusual and pretty' comments. It's also a good ice breaker as people usually ask where it's from. I like how it links me to my Welsh heritage.

Know a couple of Eirlys’s Once advised of the pronunciation there are few issues. Beautiful name, by the way.

Go with what you want. Who knows where your child will live their life? I am Welsh, have a Breton name and it’s all fine.

I’m a Cerys in England. Most people I meet pronounce it wrong. Serris, cerise, Kerry.

@Destroyedpeople, It is too underused to say what it is, but your guess will have similar issues.

My choices are:
Put up with people saying it wrong, which seem to vary from a little bit wrong to bizarre.
Use a short version I don't particularly like - great it gets lengthened to other names starting with the same sound.
Teach people how to say it - get further mangling, people don't want to be taught, you can't teach people to say some sounds.
Call myself something different - like what?

I actually like my name so none of these are really acceptable.

How about:
Rowena
Rhiannon
Cerys
Gwendolyn/Gwen
Megan

Sorry not quite what you asked for but all lovely welsh girls names which I don't think there'd be pronunciation problems with in England.

Rowena isn't welsh

Rowena is Welsh. It’s a variant of Rhonwen. But would probably have to correct row-ee-na a lot in England.

Never heard the name Rhonwen in Wales either tbh. What does 'rhon' mean?

I mean I have heard Bronwen, Branwen, Ceinwen, Tanwen....

Have you considered Menna? It's not a common name in England, but it's really easy for English people to say and spell - and it's really pretty!

Mennapause?

Rhonwen is rhawn (horsehair) + gwen(white/blessed)

It is sort of cute.

Rh is tricky and I see Ronwen, Bronwen ... type spellings.

Rowenna would work. Not welsh but looks it.

I suggest Loli.
Other suggestions - Casi and Poli.

-wen names were very popular in the early 20th century.
There are lots of them, and some were invented.
Some are old names but many were trend-led.

My name is bethany but when I lived in wales everyone spelled it bethanie. Does that count 🤣

Bethany is Bethania (Beth-ANya).
You could write it Bethni to get the nearest to Bethany

Ah I didnt know that i just said my name was bethany and everyone including the hospital spelled it bethanie, learn something new everyday.

Ooh, I missed Gwendolyn. Not welsh.
Gwendolen is welsh and is GwenDOLen not GWENdolen