Welsh boy names

[Lenny86]

We are expecting a boy and would like a Welsh name, but we live in England, so it needs to be easy to spell and say. We both like Idris, but people were very negative when we suggested it for our first child (comments about the actor). I really like Osian, but OH isn’t keen. Any suggestions on a 1-2 syllable name that works in English too?

Aled will work. I like it.

Eban.

Evan or Aled are nice.

I love Gwion, that was my first choice but my non-Welsh husband vetoed!

I love the name Dewi, if I was ever to have another baby and it was a boy that would be my choice

Arwyn is nice as well :)

@DacwMamYnDwad sorry but this is a very extreme reaction. You mention my husband's name and people in England pronounce it just fine.

I'm Welsh and so is my husband but we live in England as far away from Wales as possible. My husband has a very traditional Welsh name and no one gets it wrong if they are told. Same for me.

I really hate the attitude of not allowing your heritage in a name for fear of English people not pronouncing it correctly or misspelling it. Give people a bit more credit!
Go with a name you love. Personally I love Osian.

Idwal is a Welsh boys’ name which is a bit similar, although it’s more old-fashioned.

Nye or Deri?

I really hate the attitude of not allowing your heritage in a name for fear of English people not pronouncing it correctly or misspelling it. Give people a bit more credit!

I would if it was due. @Saskiaair. I have seen and heard what happens to Welsh names in a non-Welsh speaking setting and post accordingly.

If OP would like to name her child Euryn or Aneurin, both nice names, it might be an idea to consider how someone new to the name might say it.

@DacwMamYnDwad we live in a multicultural country and world. It doesn't take a lot to learn a name.
I work internationally lots of different names to learn to spell and pronounce but it's only enriched my life.
It's sad when people assume English people can't pronounce or take the time to learn a name.
Do you have extensive experience of this? Because we don't and we live in the south of England everyone manages just fine.
I love having Welsh names (one you listed is my husbands and it is pronounced correctly and not how you've assumed it would be) ppl know where we're from and if makes us proud and always starts a conversation.

@Saskiaair, you are talking about one name, I am talking of several names.

A name like Rhys, Dylan or Gareth are mainstream enough to not infer a Welsh heritage. Names like Gwynfor will be shortened to Gwyn.
Names like Geraint, Llyr or Ynyr will be tricky outside a Welsh speaking environment.

IME, why not make life simple and use something like Griff? You can always teach your child Welsh for the heritage part.

And yes, I have extensive experience of it. I've worked on the Welsh borders and in other parts of the UK. Often in multicultural environments.

Some of my relatives work in non-Welsh speaking parts of the UK and would say the same.

Some of the examples I've given are ones I've seen/heard. The transposed vowels is surprisingly common.

@DacwMamYnDwad my name too. Both Welsh, both fine.
To me it sounds like you're being way too precious. Just allow non Welsh people to enjoy our language and heritage and names.
Feels like you wanna keep all the Welsh names to Wales because only you know how to spell and pronounce them you get this a lot MN. It's weird territorial snobbery!

Not at all precious. If I wanted to use the name Rhys, Dylan or Alun, I would bear in mind that my little Rhys/Dylan/Alun would get called Rees/Dillun/Alan a lot of the time, and I could choose whether or not to use it on that basis.

If you don't speak Welsh, then surely something like David would reflect your heritage and be a lot less hassle.

Most Welsh names sound horrible (to me) when said as if they were English.

Llion - pronounced Theeon

I rest my case.

More mainstream:
Rhys
David
Gareth
Owen
Evan
Aled
Huw

Less mainstream?
Cadfael
Griffith
Dewi
Emlyn
Geraint
Gwilim

Iolo?

I have a Harri (pretty hard for people to get that wrong!).

Iolo
Ianto
Tomos

I find reactions to Welsh names vary a lot in England. I was born and raised in England, with a Welsh name.

The vast majority of people either don't react, ask me the provenance of the name or compliment it and most people make an effort to pronounce it. I do get some rude comments though, from 'what on earth is that?' to 'can I call you X instead?' to 'oh I'll never manage that, I'll call you Y instead'. It gets misspelled a lot. My peers at school almost all learned how to say it, a sizeable minority of my teachers didn't.

Now I'm in London hardly anyone bats an eyelid at my name and I work with people with names like Geraint, Angharad and Hefin. I notice more positive reactions here. I would happily use a Welsh name for my own DC. Especially something like Alys, Mari, Mali, Tomos, Osian or Owen.

I would be cautious of some of the Welsh letters which don't exist in English though, like Ll. It's why I won't use Esyllt, my favourite Welsh name because I don't think I can live with 'Ess-ilt'

Owain
Gethin
Tomos
Carwyn
Cai

Hard enough to name a baby without insisting that other suppress their own accent to pronounce it.

I love Emrys, Macsen, Gethin, Ioan, Huw and Iolo. Or anglicized Owen, Evan, Tristan and Dylan. Osian is okay, I prefer Idris though - I don't see why sharing his first name with an actor matters? (there must be a fair few other Idris's out there).

Hefin
Iago
Ianto
Ioan
Islwyn
Owain
Macsen
Emrys

I really like ‘I’ names 😂🙈 all fairly easy to pronounce once heard I think