English pronounciation of a welsh name

[Littlemiss41andfabulous]

Hi,

My husband is Welsh and I'm English, and we currently live in Wales. We're choosing Welsh names but I am aware we may move to England one day so want our daughter's name to not have any problems in either country.

I'd appreciate your thoughts on the Welsh name 'Efa' (pronounced Ava). Do you think that could be problematic in England, as most people/children won't know how to pronounce it in Welsh when they see how it is written down?

Thanks x

Thanks everyone for your comments.

I'm English although have lived in Wales a long time, and I did have my own reservations about choosing this name even though my Welsh husband loves it (as do I but even in my own head do keep mixing it up between pronouncing it Eva and Ava) so your comments have confirmed what I was thinking.

I think we'll need to find another Welsh name we both agree on.

Siân, Nia, Rhian, Erin, Megan, Ffion, Catrin, Morgana - they're all well recognised in other parts of the UK I think, and much less open to interpretation on pronunciation.

I'm guessing your husband doesn't speak Welsh either, so a nice nod to his heritage without making it tricky for yourselves and others to say correctly is perhaps a good compromise.

Fortunately there's lots of lovely Welsh names.

Mali
Mari
Seren
Nia
Nansi
Eira
Alys
Eleri
Nerys
Teleri
Meleri
Tesni
Ffion
Eiry
Anwen
Eirlys
Enfys

You could always use it as a middle name if you both love it.

But I’d agree that it’s likely to be quite problematic as first name.

I'd use a name you both like as a first name and use a welsh middle name. Nerys or Anwen would be fine as first names if you like them.

I'm Welsh and have never heard it pronounced 'Ava.' Like the poster said above, it's a hard E sound (E-lephant) then va.

Gwen is lovely.

I know an Ava Gwen!
But I really love Gwen. There are very few little Gwens around.

The confusion on these threads about how to say names arises IMO because you have Welsh speakers and people who are welsh but don't speak the language, and then you have regional accents in both English and Welsh.

Welsh is phonetic and the E in Efa is like the E in Bethan, bed, red etc
F is always said as a V. Ff is a separate letter and is always a PH sound. The A is the same as the a in Cat.