Welsh/animal names

[Tucancrossing]

My son's middle name is Arthur which is derived from 'bear' in Welsh. We'd like to go for matching but not obviously matching middle names, so we're looking for either Welsh middle names or names with animal meanings. Both would be amazing!

At the moment we're considering Leo or Leon for a boy. We love Wren for a girl but it's a friend's child's name so we can't really use it. Any other suggestions?

Bleddyn for a boy (BLEH-thin, th as in the and that), means wolf.
Blythe for a girl. - sounds like Blaidd, welsh for wolf.

Ursula - bear
Melissa or Deborah - honey bee
Rachel - sheep
etc

I found these on a list of Welsh names online so apologies if any of the meanings are incorrect!

Aderyn - bird
Branwen - raven + fair/white/blessed
Elain - fawn
Llinos - linnet, finch

Bran - raven
Llew - lion

Those are fine but Aderyn isn't really a name, it's just the word for bird. Colloquially, if you said someone was a bit of an aderyn. It wouldn't be a compliment.

I forgot the MN favourite, Bronwen. It's the welsh for weasel.

I love both Lev and Zev for boys. Lev means Lion (a more unusual Russian form of Leo) and Zev is a Hebrew name meaning Wolf (from the Biblical Ze'ev).

I also like the more straightforward Lark and Linnet for girls.

@Firebird83

I found these on a list of Welsh names online so apologies if any of the meanings are incorrect!

Aderyn - bird
Branwen - raven + fair/white/blessed
Elain - fawn
Llinos - linnet, finch

Bran - raven
Llew - lion

I would avoid Llinos if you’re not Welsh or living in Wales (Or any other “ll” name). It really is very difficult to say correctly without speaking Welsh as the sound doesn’t exist in English. My husband can only just do it after 8 years of coaching and most people don’t bother trying.

If you’re in Wales or are Welsh though, then go for it!

Girls:
Haf - means Summer and a common middle name for girls in Wales
Enfys - EN-viss, means Rainbow
Eira - EY-ra, means snow (Ey as in hey and ra as in rabbit)
Eirys - EY-riss, means Iris
Eirlys - EYR-liss, means snowdrop
Ffion - fee-on, means fair
Nia - Nee-ah, Welsh for Niamh
Seren - SERR-en (en as in pen), a modern Welsh name meaning star
Tesni - TESS-nee, means the warmth from the sun

Boys:
Macsen - MAX-en (again, en as in pen) - Macsen Wledig is what Magnus Maximus is known as in Welsh. I've suggested it as Arthur is a name which carries history and a legend, as does Macsen.
Aneurin - (An-EY-rin) name of a famous poet
Taliesin - (Tal-YES-in) also a famous poet
Bryn - means hill in Welsh
Aled - river name
Alun - (AL-in) - also a river name
Osian - (OSH-an, an as in Anne, not 'un') - Welsh for Oisín, Osian and Nia Ben Aur were legendary lovers, so another name with a legend behind it

@Peeteea my husband is Welsh and I'm not, and we live in England. I actually can pronounce the sound correctly due to my line of work, but yeah it's not a sound I would choose to use as a non-Welsh speaker!

Thanks so much for all of your suggestions! Have added loads of them to my list!

[quote Tucancrossing]@Peeteea my husband is Welsh and I'm not, and we live in England. I actually can pronounce the sound correctly due to my line of work, but yeah it's not a sound I would choose to use as a non-Welsh speaker![/quote]
Ahh that’s fair enough, you can ignore me then 😁 It’s such a shame because it’s a gorgeous name but too much of my husband’s family would struggle and we live in Scotland now so Llinos was out of the question for us sadly. We have a little Ffion instead and that’s gone over just fine!

Best of luck choosing names, it’s so hard but you’ve got a good selection here 😊

Bronwyn
Evlyn
Dove

Ronan
Colt

Celyn is Welsh for Holly

@peeteea Ffion is a gorgeous name! High on my list 😊

@DacwMamYnDwad

Bleddyn for a boy (BLEH-thin, th as in the and that), means wolf. Blythe for a girl. - sounds like Blaidd, welsh for wolf.

Ursula - bear
Melissa or Deborah - honey bee
Rachel - sheep
etc

Do you mean to say that the 'dd' is welsh sound like 'th' (Bleddyn)and the 'th' sounds like 'dd' (Blythe)???

@withmycoffee,
" Do you mean to say that the 'dd' is welsh sound like 'th' (Bleddyn)and the 'th' sounds like 'dd' (Blythe)??? "

No.

Dd always sounds like th does in words like the and there. It never sounds like the 'th' in thing, or like d.

Bleddyn sounds like Blethyn (like Brenda Blethyn) . The 'th' is like the 'th' in the, this, that.

Blaidd and Blythe sound exactly the same.

@withmycoffee, Gwynedd and Gwyneth don't sound exactly the same.

Th always sounds like the th in thing, thin and ^through".

@Happenchance, Bronwyn should be written as Bronwen. -wyn is for boys, -wen for girls.

Philip/Philippa - lover of horses
Drake
Fox
Fawn
Rowel/Rowella
Beaver
Sable
Panda
Paloma
Lionel
Llew(elyn)
Aquila
Aries
Alouette
Conan
Starling
Willow
Hazel...

@Sboncen cracking up at Beaver and Panda 😆

Robin

Lark for a girl?