Welsh MNers - pronunciation help please

[sponsabillaries]

I believe there are a number of Welsh speakers on this board.

Please could you give me some guidance on how to pronounce the name Nêst?

I was just thinking about this name this morning! it's pretty and underused.

The e is long and flat. Like Nayst without the 'y' sound

Thank you for the response @DacwMamYnDwad but I have absolutely no idea what you mean . To me a ‘long’ e sound is ‘ee’.

It’s an ‘eh’ sound but longer. Take the ‘ai’ sound in ‘air’ and elongate it.

The e is long and flat. Like Nayst without the 'y' sound

This is what I was going to write as well.
So Nay (like nay sayer, or neigh) and ST

But that is with the ‘y’ - is that correct?

Does it rhyme with ‘haste’?

I would say it like n-ehhhhh-st
e as in air like a op says

It would not rhyme with haste for me.

No it doesn't rhyme with haste for me.
I don't know quite how to describe it in words! PP saying the ay in air is correct

Maybe it's my accent, but haste has a very quick eh. Nêst has a longer eh

That's not right.

Well, thank you all for trying but pretty much every post has contradicted an earlier one and I'm none the wiser. If anyone can find a video of the name being pronounced I'd be really grateful. Otherwise I'll ask her myself when I meet her next week; I thought it would be a nice courtesy to have done the research beforehand.

@sponsabillaries , It rhymes with haste, taste, waist.
it doesn't sound like Nairst.
You don't really get the 'air' sound in Welsh other than in a small pocket of the South West/West.
For example, ffêr does not sound like fair. Close but not the same.
If you call Nêst as Naist, she'll be fine with it.

It's a Welsh form of Agnes, and other forms are An(n)est and Nesta.

It must vary regionally op. I'm in South Wales and have only heard it pronounced with e like an air sound as described above. I'm assuming those saying nayst are in the North. If you happen to know where your nest is from you can choose the appropriate one.

As someone with a very unusual welsh name though I'm never at all offended by people asking how to pronounce it.

@MirabelMax , How do you say hen (old). Hane or Hai(r)n?

As someone with an unusual Welsh name, I don't mind being asked how to say it, but I mind when they try to repeat it, because what I say and what they hear seem to be quite different.

@MirabelMax OK thank you. I know she is a Welsh speaker but I am not sure exactly where she is from.

@GogLais a genuine question then - how is anyone supposed to learn how to say your name?!

@sponsabillaries , I go by a different name in everyday life.

Not my actual name, but suppose it was Lleucu, and I called myself Lucy cos I was sick of comments like 'I'm not even going to try to say that' and 'Lerkoo' and the like, but my name officially was Lleucu. When people find out I'm not really Lucy the conversation goes something like this:

'What's your real name, Lucy?'
'Lleucu'
'How do you say it, again?'
'Lleucu'
'Chikey?' (Ch like in scottish loch)
'Lleucu'
'Thleykey?'
[me feeling very uncomfortable]
Colin from Accounts butts in with 'Chplphlegmchwacheookoo! ha ha try saying that without spitting! Bloody welsh, i walked into a pub and they all switched from English to Welsh...'

Nothing against Lleucu as a name, it's lovely.

It would be more like H ai(r) n.

I don't really have that experience with my name but I don't have any of the harder to pronounce (if you're not Welsh) letters in my name. 99% of people can say it easily once I explain it. A bit like Nest really.

I appreciate people asking. I don't mind people having to a go and getting it wrong either. The only thing I object to is people wilfully and rudely continuing to mispronounce it over a period of months or even years.

@GogLais I'm sorry that you've had that experience. I would always want to learn the correct pronunciation but I speak a couple of languages and from experience I know that I'm not going to get it right the first, or even second or third time I try to form a new sound which doesn't exist in my native language. I do appreciate however that it must be very uncomfortable to be the person who is always coaching others through this process and why you might want to avoid it.

I feel a bit self-conscious about asking now, tbh!

@sponsabillaries What languages do you speak, and perhaps we can suggest an equivalent in one of those?

I am not a Welsh speaker, but I sounds to me like the PPs are describing a sound like the French è (as in frère, mère), or the long e sound in Italian words like pera. Apologies if I'm not getting that quite right, of course.

@CastleTower Good idea. I speak very good French, decent Spanish, and a smattering of Italian.

@CastleTower , ê in Welsh doesn't sound like French è.
In Welsh, e sounds either like the e in Ben, or is the ê sound. If there are adjacent vowels, the sound will be affected by the adjacent vowel.

If you tried to approximate the name Jane in Welsh, you'd write Jên. I don't think that Jane rhymes with Nairn.

Am a Welsh speaker, and just want to say thanks to you for bothering to check this out- It's a very respectful, and unusual, way to go about it and it does mean a great deal. Please don't be put off by anyone who expects you to get it right straight away- The effort is what's important.

The closest I'd compare it to is the sound "ne'er" (as in ne'er do well!) followed by a st sound. In south Wales, the e sound isn't as long so it's similar to the English word for a bird's home!

I'd ask her how she wants her name pronouncing- You could say that you've looked it up but that there are regional variations and you want to get it right. I'd love it if someone made such an effort with my name, but no-one ever has.

** that was assuming a non-rhotic pronunciation of Nairn

@sponsabillaries , don't ask how to say it, just say Hello Naist' and she'll correct you if you are wrong , which you won't be.
The example i gave is pretty much what happens, because the colleague who asks how to say it is just being friendly/curious, without appreciating that I'm using a different name for a reason, and the person butting in is an ignorant twat.
Other things I get are misspellings - think Katyrena, Katarina, Katrina, Catriona or Katerina instead of Kateryna.
Only an issue because they refuse to accept that I go by Katie.

Nêst is pretty unusual, it doesn't register on darkgreener, whereas Lleucu does.

I can only think of two Nêsts (who are still alive- I can think of two older ones no longer with us) and both say it as I do.

@GogLais Thanks - sounds like some PP, including yourself, are describing a diphthong (close to Jane, pain, main) and some a long vowel (close to non-rhotic hair or French è).

Aiming for either one is likely to count as a pretty stab at this person's name, and I'm sure she'll correct you if you're too far off. Good luck, OP!

@CastleTower , no, not really.
E next to a different vowel becomes a diphthong. E sounds different in words like gwen and gwên - the circumflex elongates the vowel. gwen sounds like Gwen, gwên sounds (a lot) like gwain.

The diphthong is in a word like aeron or blaen - the e sort of merges with the a.