I want to call my baby Ianto after him in Torchwood: why is everyone on my case about it??

[AuntyMable]

I am having a boy in a month or so's time. I really like Torchwood and I want to call my boy Ianto (pronounced Yanto) after that lovely guy in Torchwood. In fact the plan is to call him Ianto Owen Tosh (and surname). Whats wrong with this? DP is being very funny with me over it and I am really starting to get the hump. They are all proper names! I am not calling him after a football team, or Ikea or Nintendo or anything!

My parents aren't speaking to me over this. And my sister says I am losing it and should not be naming my child after people in weird cult spin-offs in which people constantly have sex with anything which happens along, male, female or alien especially when it has nothing much to do with the plot. Which is really HER going off on one in typical style!

They are just names. And I LOVE them, as I love the characters.

Please give me some feedback. I am on my sister's PC so probably won't be back to thread until later this evening but it people could give me constructive feedback in the meantime I would be most grateful.

Agh! This may be ancient, but it’s still one of the first things that comes up when I google my lovely Welsh 4 year old son’s name! Not sure whether it’s better or worse that it was all a joke. We chose easily-pronounced-by-Anglophile traditional Welsh names for our twins, giving them standard English middle names just in case. We knew vaguely about Torchwood, had seen the Ianto Jones Shrine in Cardiff, but weren’t too worried - don’t know that many TW fans. Thought we were settled in Cardiff permanently, now moved! And yes, no-one knows how to say it seeing it written down. However, it’s easily learnt, and I have a very ordinary name that has been mispronounced my whole life anyway! So, nearly 10 years on, I wonder if we’d still be castigated for our taste?

I know a Ianto in his 40s and one who is 4.

All fine.

I don't like Tosh though. Ianto Owen is lovely.

I am lol-ing so hard over this thread
R u for real 😆

I had a lizard called ianto, after a Welsh potato farmer 😆

These replys make me sad. I hope you used that name because I think it's awesome. We named our son ianto Indiana Jones (yes that's our real surname) we love it and it suits him perfectly! Our only struggle now is finding a sibblings name that's just as unique as ianto, although it probably won't be another character name. I think as long as you and your husband agree on a name every one else can just get over it. And honestly, only the small amount of people who have watched torchwood have ever caught his name, but all the doctors giggle when they read his middle name and tell us it's awesome.

Your message unfortunately sounds like a joke. Why would you consider giving a beautiful baby middle names such as Tosh or Captain? The child will be ridiculed. I would suggest that you listen to others including your hubby. I love Torchwood and Dr Who is here are some alternatives which may work for you.
Owen Rhys
Jack Owen
Owen Jack
Owens Rhys
Gwyn Owen
Gwyn Rhys
Owen Cooper
(Gwyn like Gwen)
If you really want Ianto, use it as middle name. Don’t use Tosh at all or Captain!
For a girl Gwen Joan (as in Jones) or
Gwen Jacqueline (Jack).

Good luck

Hi Cazastrophe - my 5 year old Ianto loves his name! Since leaving Wales, people tend to try Ee-an-too when they first see it written down, but no problems after that - it’s easy to pronounce - and he’s often Iani (Yanny) for short anyway. We know of a parent in school with Welsh roots who’s added the name to her short list.... it’s a fairly traditional, although unusual now, Welsh name.
So I must humbly and vigorously disagree with you about it only being suitable for hiding in a middle name! His twin has a sturdy and often mispronounced Welsh name too, and they enjoy telling people how to spell their names, whilst very seriously explaining the idiosyncrasies of the Welsh alphabet!
Not as daring as you Jilian though - we have a common Welsh and English name as middle names - your kid will always have his “tell us one interesting thing about yourself” answer sorted - love it! Always nice to hear from a fellow (and hopefully more genuine than the OP) Ianto-parent - we’re a rare breed!

Oh, and I’ve never seen Torchwood!

Hicockalorum we get eye-an-toe as the pronunciation most of the time. Can you suggest any other uncommon (or at least uncommon for the United States) Welsh names? We love uncommon and unique. We named the baby we miscarried Loxley, and now I'm pregnant again and we have no name ideas so far.

Love Ianto!

ZOMBIE THREAD

The child is over 10 years old

Hi Jilian,
I’m sorry to hear you lost a baby - it’s excruciating.
The question about names, I’m very happy to help with! I’m a Welsh speaker, grew up in North Wales where it’s the first language of lots of people, so a lot of unusual names sound pretty natural to me.
How about Gruffydd? Prounouced Griffith, but with a hard “th” as in “the”. Traditional spelling is as above, but as it will often be prounced as in Billy Goats, an accepted alternative is with an i. Bit biased - it’s my other twin’s name! He gets “oh, Griff as in Griffindor” sometimes, which is quite fun. I also like Aneurin (An-EYE-rin) - gets extra kudos in UK as namesake founded the NHS - and Caradoc/Caradog if you’re feeling truly brave. We might have gone with Llewelyn (good Kingly name) if the Ll isn’t so hard to pronounce for non- Welsh speakers - you put your tongue behind your top front teeth and sort of hiss! I also like Iolo (Yollo), but it’s a bit much like a hashtag now I guess! If you are feeling alliterative, there are lots of “I” names - Iorwerth, Iestyn and Iwan for example. Also like Geraint. Idris is also a traditional Welsh name, as well as an Arabic one - DH liked that name, but I was in school with a horrible Idris, so couldn’t quite get on board.
Elgan, Dafydd, Tudur (Tid-eer), Emlyn, Emyr - all kids I was in school with, but fairly unusual elsewhere. Taran is cool - means Thunder.
Girls - we liked Anwen, Catrin, Carys, Cerys and Heledd (Hell-eth, hard “th”). Hafwen (Harv-wen) pretty (means beautiful summer). Ianto would have been Ivy if he was a girl (not Welsh, but we liked it). Elin, Mari - nice Welsh varient spellings. Branwen - Welsh, also Cornish. Angharad we liked, but hard to shorten. Delyth (soft “th”), means lovely. Gwennan. Sioned (rhymes with gone-ed).
That’s half of our original shortlist! I have more....
Good luck with whatever you choose!

Ianto is a nice Welsh name.

But in the "creative" spirit of the thread I'd suggest Iantosh.

I know this an old thread that’s popped up but I’m gutted it was a joke. I love Torchwood.