Miriam or Eira?

[NorseMum]

Which name is nicer?

Miriam or Eira?

🥰

Not just the name; the same pronunciation when you're saying something like "mae'n bwrw eira" - it's very different north vs south.
not true.

ei meaning his/her's/its is not said as 'eye'.

I was raised in Gwynedd and now live in (and have taught in) one of the most Welsh-speaking areas of south Wales.

There is a very clear difference between how "ei" is pronounced in Gwynedd and how "ei" is pronounced where I live now. It drives me insane because I firmly believe it should be "ei" as in "hay" 😂 - but I have better things to do with my life than fabricate how an entire dialect pronounces a syllable.

Thinking about it, many of my colleagues did pronounce "ei" as "eye", even when talking about his/hers/its.

Miriam is originally a Hebrew name.

If you taught in mid-Wales, you'd find people who say A as E.
If you worked in the Midlands, you'd find people say E as A.

If people want to say Eira as Eye-ra, then that's up to them, but I wouldn't insist that Ellie is pronounced Allie based on how it's said in one part of the UK.

It is eye ra in loads of areas of wales to be fair. My friend and my family in the south pronounce it as eye ra. I pronounce it as ay (Hay) ra.

my south walian friend also says ei/ein like eye. Sings it like that too in the national anthem.

I'm not disputing how people say the name @Watchoutfortheslowaraf, it's the word that isn't 'eye-ra'.

People say the name as eye-ra because they say the word as eye-ra. I'm not saying they're pronouncing it correctly, but it's the widely accepted "correct" pronunciation down here and I've had adults and children alike correct my pronunciation of similar words - "ein Tad" at the start of gweddi'r arglwydd, they pronounce it "ine" as in "wine".

They pronounce the word Eira like eye-ra in many parts of the south then. The name is a word

as the poster above, I have heard ei pronounced like eye in many things- Lord’s Prayer, national anthem etc by south walian people. Not how I would pronounce it in the north but doesn’t mean I am right and they are wrong. It’s just accent.

But the pp said "I'm not saying they're pronouncing it correctly" and it's a local aberration. It's the same as if I insisted that Siân was pronounced Shehn because there are parts of Wales where it is pronounced like that.

For an equivalent, I could insist that Ivy was pronounced Ah-veh because that's how it sounds in some areas.

Is it local if it’s the entire south of wales though?

Agree with this

Lovely name (Eira) but I’m not keen unless the r is rolled correctly!

It won't be the entire south, and Welsh isn't widely spoken in the south. @Watchoutfortheslowaraf . Proportionally, South Wales is quite small, and the Welsh-speaking areas are mainly in the North West.

If you look at any Welsh pronunciation guide, E isn't pronounced 'Ah' in them.
As I pp, I have no objection to the name being pronounced the way the parents want; my objection is to the 'eira is Welsh for snow and is pronounced eye-ra'.
If they said 'my DD's name is Eira and it means snow' I'd be fine with it. Their child not mine.

Anyway. Miriam. How many syllables? Mirry-um, Mirr-yum or Mirr-yam?
Far easier (and nicer).

It won't be the entire south, and Welsh isn't widely spoken in the south.

I thought that before I moved here too 😅

(For context, I mentally split Wales into North and South at Aberystwyth, so west Wales is included. Anecdotally, I hear more conversational day to day Welsh in Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion than I used to anywhere in Gwynedd outside of Blaenau / Caernarfon)

I'd have said Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion were West Wales.
South in terms of south of Aberystwyth. I'd put Aberystwyth in mid-Wales.

How much Welsh you hear depends on who you mix with. If you're a teacher in a Welsh-medium school you'll hear a lot more Welsh than if you work in a tech-related office on a business park.

Eira's popularity Baby name explorer is probably due to names like Eva, Ava, Aria and Ada being popular. Scandinavian/Norse names are also trending.
Maryam is currently popular.

Still is.

I like Miriam. It is quite timeless.

I know one called Mim.

Regarding the Welsh word for snow,
I was watching Prynhawn Da | 5 Ionawr 2026 | S4C Clic yesterday and eira is mentioned a lot.
Not one of the people talking on it say 'eira' as 'eye-ra'.
One of them (about 2.06 minutes in) and has a north west accent. One presenters is from the north east, the other from Pembrokeshire The others on it are from the south or west.

(That doesn't cover every single accent in Wales, but it does give a different ones. Most, if not all of them, are probably from homes where Welsh was the day-to-day language. The accent of those who learn Welsh as a second language is different, and they are probably the ones saying 'eye-ra'.)