Welsh name ideas

[tax19]

Hi there

We are expecting our first baby soon. We live in wales and though I am English DH is welsh (not welsh speaking) and thought as baby would be born in wales be nice to have a welsh name. However, we want something we can pronounce and spell.

We are having a surprise and set with the girls name Elinor.

We have told family we like the boys name Huw but have had mixed reactions. Anymore welsh boy names ideas that are easy to pronounce.

Thank you!

Also love love love Elinor!

Just curious how else do you pronounce rhys?

@Scotskynon Rh is a letter in the Welsh alphabet. Rhys is said more like Rhis. Shorter middle sound

I went to school with a Huw and he was super popular (south west England), I'm early 30s 😊

My favourite Welsh boys' names are Meredydd, Gruffydd, Meirion and Taliesin.

Hywel?

Stick to your gut - Huw is a lovely name and also not much of a risk of mispronunciation!

I'm like you and wanted a Welsh name that my English family could correctly pronounce.
Fwiw we have an Emrys. Only one person has pronounced it wrong, and has gone on too long to correct! A couple of people checked at the start and no other problems.

Other easy to pronounce Welsh boys names: Emlyn, Idris, Arthur, Tomos, Macsen, Hari, Elis, Tristan
Have caution with Iwan (pronounced ee-wan) and Dylan (pronounced dull-an) as both often anglicised - depending on if this bothers you or not. Also may be different pronunciation in North Wales.
We know several Osians, Tomos's and Macsens. The older names are also making a comeback like in England - met a couple other Emrys's despite previously only associating with old men.

... Huw is a lovely name and also not much of a risk of mispronunciation!
Hoo and Hugh spring to mind. I've heard both.

@Scotskynon , RH is like R+H said at the same time. The Y has no english equivalent - you make your tongue into a horseshoe shape and say ee, the S is s.

The Y sound varies on the word - Y is like a non-rhotic Er, in a name like Glyn or Bryn it's more like the letter I (i) in english bit or bin

Hywel is more like Huh-well, but the stress is on the Hyw, not the Hy.
Similarly the stress in Iwan is on the Iw, not the I.

Most of the names will get mispronounced or misspelt but some worse than others. Arthur and Tomos will probably be said as the english equivalents.

Emyr
Ivor/Ifor
Aneurin, could adopt 'Nye' as a nm too.
Llŷr

*nickname

Owen

@Polzair - Emyr, Ifor, Aneurin, Llŷr are nice names but they won't work if you don't speak Welsh. OP is english. Aneurin is OK if you can tolerate the Un-eye-rin pronunciation.

gavin
davy
jone

Rhodri, Gwilym, Rhosyn. Idris.

I LOVE Welsh names! Really wish I’d been in Wales when naming my second!

@Maryslargelamb , I have a feeling that your DC2 would be glad you weren't.
Rhosyn is the word for rose. It's not really a name, and definitely not for a boy.

Elinor is not really Welsh but is used.

I’m first language Welsh and some of the ‘names’ on this thread aren’t names at all!

Huw Elis is lovely OP

Good names above

I like Huw!

others I considered were Rhys, Steffan, Iwan, Ioan, Osian but sadly all will not necessarily cause issues, but be pronounced quite differently by welsh and English speakers. You have to decide if that bothers you (I’m welsh but live with English husband in England).

The following are not names:
Bedo
Deri
Stef
Mascen
Osain
Rhosyn
Auryn
Ebon
Jone

Bedwyr could be shortened to Bedo.
Deri is the word for oaks.
Auryn might be a typo for Euryn

Nye is my favourite.

Thank you, but I thought Osian is a name? I've worked with children called Osian and on googling it states

Osian (Welsh pronunciation: [ˈɔʃan], English: /ˈɒʃən/ OSH-ən) is a Welsh masculine given name, derived from the Irish legendary poet and warrior Oisín. The name is derived from the Irish for little deer. It can also mean a face mask wearing little deer king.

Osian was the 22nd most popular baby name in Wales in 2017 and the 3rd most popular traditional Welsh name according to the latest statistics from the Office of National Statistics.

Ah sorry see Osian spelt differently. See the error now

@tax19
Osian is
Osain isn't

@erikbloodaxe just seen now thank you

Thanks, @tax19 . Names with consecutive vowels tend to get misspelt.
Welsh has A, E, I, O, U, W and Y as vowels.

A name like Gwilym will get Gwylim, Giwlym, Gwillim etc.

To be fair, I do know of a recent Bedo that’s been born. I’d never heard it before either but when he was born I had a look and there were several Welsh medieval poets with the name! But the others, I agree with you. It’s quite frustrating sometimes seeing random sounds and words passed off as Welsh ‘names’

Ma isio gras does!