Thoughts on Taliesin?

[NCforbabyname]

DH has proposed this as a middle name for DS. I'm on the fence as our surname gets a lot of 'how do you spell that?' and is often mispronounced.

DS' first name is in the top 100 (as of 2020) although I've never met someone with his name but it is quite easily spelt and pronounced.

Is the child named after Taliesin Jaffe? It’s a very current name because he’s in the public eye, probably on peoples radar a lot more now than it was a few years ago. I like it.

I read it as 'Talisman'. I can't imagine how it's pronounced and I'm usually quite good with this sort of thing. Never heard of it. I don't know how I feel about it. Can't word it out.

I have a welsh middle name and have to spell it out every time but the number of times you have to do that is v small so spelling shouldn't be a prob.
I also have to spell out my first and last name or people get it wrong every time but the middle name thing doesnt bother me.

I've loved this name since reading How Green Was My Valley. Pronunciation is not difficult (I'm not Welsh).

I love it. So did DH, until he realised it was a boys name and not a girls name like he assumed.

For a while my fantasy twin boys names were Aneirin/Aneurin and Taliesin.

If you like Welsh boys names with a bit of history/legend behind them then Aneirin/Anuerin, Osian and Macsen are also nice.

Lovely Welsh name. As it is Welsh it is pronounced phonetically so all of the letters are sounded out - Tal -ee- es -in.

I prefer to go by how all the Taliesins I know say trheir name rather than by Wikipedia.
Also the Taliesin Arts Centre.

Though I agree, it's not an exaggerated ee

If you like it, go for it. Middle names can be as unusual as you want, no one uses them IRL. Isn't that the whole point, you can be as out there as you please, and it won't have the adverse effects on the child that t might had you used it as a first name. And even then, if you live in a cosmopolitan area, you are likely to come across lots of children with unfamiliar first names, and the children don't think anything of it.

@itrytomakemyway , @KnickerlessParsons , in Welsh, vowels form diphthongs. Iestyn is Yestin not Ee-ss-tin.

Well, as a Welsh speaking household the very few Tals I know pronounce it with four syllables.

South Wales first language Welsh speaker here. Three syllables as per pp's. Tal-yess-in.

Love the name!

It’s my dogs name….. would be ok for a middle name though.

It's definitely not tal-ee-ess-in in Welsh.
I think you'll find that Canolfan Gelfyddydau Taliesin is pronounced Can-OL-Van Gel-Futh-UDD-eye Tal-YES-in. (th like in this and that)

Tal- ee-Essen. In my my part of Wales too.

Well blow me. The name and the Welsh language have been around for 15 centuries and they've all been saying it incorrectly.
Typical MN

I’m finding it difficult to phonetically spell Taliesin. Sometimes I get 3 syllables and sometimes 4.

My grandad’s name was Tom. I found out, when the family got together to speak with the minister just before his funeral, that his name was actually Taliesin. I wish I had known. My first son would have been given Taliesin as his middle name, instead of Thomas 🫣

The dog is called Tal though 🐶

This is really interesting. I have had all four Welsh speakers in the house say the name to me. They say they hear 3 syllables - I still hear 4. That double vowel sound Tal IE ssin is very, very quick.

I am the non Welsh speaker so I accept it is three but sounds like 4 to my monoglot ears.

DH has the Welsh connection but tells me it's pronounced Tally-ESS-in. We do not live in Wales though.

I do like it. However, the more I read it, the more I mispronounce it and then I forget how it should be spelt in the first place.

Has anyone got any good alternatives?

I’m welsh. I say tally- ess- in

It is 3 syllables.
Struggling to think of names with IE in but Iesu is Yessy (the last Y is not really a ee sound but the U sound doesn't have an equivalent)

Iesu is 2 syllables. Iestyn is two syllables.
Urien is two syllables (IRR-yen - IRR like in irrigate)

If you said the i and the e separately, Urien would be said as Irr-EE-en, and it isn't.

Similarly, Marian is MARR-yan not Marry-Ann. The stress always falls on the penultimate spelling, and it would give you MarEE-ann.

I've just seen something online that said that Cariad was pronounced Car-EE-ad. Iesu Grist, I've seen it all now. It's CARR-yad. dons tin hat to be told that I and every Welsh speaker is wrong

I really like it.

@UseOfWeapons or even Pagan AND Welsh.....like me

That's my cat's name