Welsh baby boy name

[Em0703]

We really like Elis and Gwilym. Any thoughts on challenges either can present or are both pretty easy to use outside of Wales too?

I love both and Elis is on my long list. I think it would be fine, as Ellis is a well known surname.

Gwilym is one of my favourite names, I'd love to use it for our son. You should definitely pick this one!

Sadly, neither of us are Welsh (a set of Welsh grandparents each, but not sure that's enough!) to get away with it.

Elis will be constantly spelled Ellis. Both lovely names though.

Elis will be spelt Ellis, and will get called Elsi

Gwilym will get misspelt as Gwylim, and will be nicknames Gwil

Both are nice names, I'd go for Gwilym

For English eyes and ears - as you are asking - I think Elis would probably be written as Ellis by English folk who just heard it, but they would see it written and say his name without issues. I think Gwilym would give a bit more difficulty.
Now, I think it is still nice, and that we should all use names from our own heritage unless it has odd meanings in different languages, but I am just responding as you asked about English.

I think they’re fairly straightforward.

I like Ioan, Osian, Gwyn (as in ap Nudd)

They're ok. I like Gethin.

I'm in England abs I really like Elis

Gwilym is a gorgeous name.
I am currently pregnant with DD2 but before finding out we were having a girl it was the front runner for a boy. We have Welsh connections but live in England and didn’t think it would be an issue. I think Gwill is a great strong nickname and figured Will or Gil could always be a nickname too.

I’m afraid in England people will assume that Elis is a misspelling, or they won’t read it properly and their brains will fill in an imaginary second ‘l’. Lovely name though.

Osian
Gethin
Huw
Owain

Love Gwilym but personally feel somehow like I should speak good Welsh or have Welsh heritage to use it myself - even though it seems pretty straightforward/easy to pronounce outside Wales imo (I'm English and currently live in a English speaking area of Wales so am probably using William instead).

Elis will probably get misspelt as Ellis but I personally much prefer Gwilym anyway. Btw other Welsh boys names I love are Emrys, Huw, Ioan and Macsen.

Gwilym and Elis were both on my short list. I really love Gwilym.

I'm Welsh but living in England. Gave my son a v easy Welsh name (I thought) and people seem to struggle with it, though get used to it eventually. TBH people frequently spell my name wrong even though it's super common, so you might as well just go with a name you love.

Evan and Rhys, Welsh but common enough to not get misspelled 😊

Evan is an anglicised form of Ifan.
Rhys sounds horrible and is a bit downmarket if you are not Welsh-speaking.

@GogLais

Evan is an anglicised form of Ifan. Rhys sounds horrible and is a bit downmarket if you are not Welsh-speaking.

Ok 😐

Was replying to OP not you though. Don’t really care what you think tbh.

Also..

@brokenbiscuitsx, name sites are notoriously unreliable when it comes to Welsh names. Some have words like Famine, Wheel and Wheelbarrow listed as girls' names.

Never heard of Iefan. Ifan and Ieuan are both well-known forms of John.

You may not care what I think but if you name a child Rhys it sounds quite different when said by a Welsh speaker.

Both Elis and Gwilym are lovely. Elis will get Ellis and Gwilym will get Gwylim but both are easy to pronounce so shouldn't be too tricky outside Wales.

I'm in England and Osian, Tomos and Macsen are on my list. Partial to Ioan (but can't use it), Owen, Emrys, Emlyn and Idris as well.

Gwilym would be on my list but DH vetoed and Elis would be on there if there wasn't already one in the family.

Wow - brokenbiscuitsx, that response is a little rude.

To be fair, GogLais is correct.

Evan is not Welsh - for a start ‘v ’ isn’t in the Welsh alphabet!

Of the two originally suggested names, I prefer Gwilym…I have two Welsh ‘G’ names for sons so I may be biased!

Thanks @IGoWalkingAfterMidnight, are they Gethin and Griff?

Llewellyn is my favourite name ever! But Scottish baby's dad didn't like it as too Welsh :(

It's also easy to shortened as Lewy, plus name of a character in famous film 'No Country for Old Men' so a lot of people who aren't welsh will be familiar with it

I have a Gwilym and we live outside of Wales - people have to concentrate a couple of times the first time, but after that we have had very few misspellings of it. Yes, he is Gwil for short, or often just G. It's the only boys name we could agree on (Dad is first language Welsh and I like Welsh names).

@OtterAndDog, Llewellyn is the anglicised form. The Welsh versions are Llywelyn or Llewelyn, and are abbreviated to Llew, which doesn't have an L in it.

As others have said, Eli’s will be spelt as Ellis. Both good names.

@GogLais at the risk of outing myself, they are Gruffydd and Gwydion 😁

Oh @IGoWalkingAfterMidnight those are nice names. I only know one Gwydion, but lots of Griffs.