Welsh baby names that English family can pronounce easily

[sunshinecjw]

Hiya everyone, this is my first time posting so looking forward to hearing all of your thoughts!!

We are looking for Welsh names that are easy for my English side of the family to pronounce.

My top girl names are Mali and Cadi (please let me know your opinions on these) but I also love names like Ani, mabli and Llio. No long names, nothing overly common.
I also need a middle name that is preferably one (or two) syllable.

We think we have decided on a boy name but I would love to hear any unusual suggestions that I haven’t already heard (I feel like I have gone through every Welsh name list that exists).

I am well past my due date at this point so I would be mega grateful of any help/suggestions.

Efa
eira
Ceri
Bethan

edited to add catrin

Girls:
Anwen
Gwenan
Cerys/Carys
Olwen

Boys:
Bryn
Emlyn
Elis
Idris

Bethan
Megan
Cerys
Seren
Ceri
Bronwyn
Rhiannon
Nia

Dylan
Rhys
Owen
Rhodri
Bryn
Eli’s

Carys

re. my pp, it was more to do with whether or not you were bothered about names being said two ways like Bethan/Bethun or Arthur, or if you wanted names like Bryn or Gwen, and whether you wanted names that would work in non-Welsh speaking areas.

Misspellings:
Anghared - Angharad

Not Welsh:
Guinevere - it's the anglicised form of Gwenhwyfar
Elwyn - English origin
Ellis - Elis in Welsh
Ren

Pronunciation of Huw: Not Hugh. It's like someone who says their Ls as W saying 'Hill'.

Emrys and Manon haven't been mentioned.

In case it helps with your original list of names as an English person who has no idea how to pronounce Welsh names this is how I would pronounce those on first look. Obviously once you told me how they were pronounced I would do my best to pronounce them properly.

Mali - marlee
Cadi - caddy
Ani - annie
mabli - mabley
Llio - Leo (as soon as I had thought Leo I then realised that ll is cl in Welsh and that it's maybe more like Cleo but it wasn't my first thought)

I know an Angharad living in England who says literally nobody says it right and she’s given up correcting now.

Anything with the rh or ll is likely to be mispronounced.

Cerys, Seren, Mabli are all easy for English speakers. Mabli you’ll need to tell people (you’ll get some say it like Mabel or Mabelie) but Cerys and seren are easy at first sight.

I think Lois will get pronounced the English way. My suggestions are
Bethan
Nia
Ffion
Seren
Catrin

Macsen
Hari
Steffan

None of these are particularly fashionable though. I’d avoid Rhys, Rhiannon and Huw because of the difference in pronunciation. Even in Wales there is a difference between in pronunciation between Welsh and English first language speakers. I think it will depend whether you speak Welsh yourself.

Nansi. The Welsh version of Nancy.

Gruff is likely to be pronounced as in Gruffalo rather than Griff and Emlyn as Em-line rather than Em-lin.

I love Caradog but likely to be seen on sight as Cara-dog.

Efa is going to be pronounced like heffer rather than Ever.

Nia is a lovely name.
Check with a Welsh speaker before you decide- MN ALWAYS throws up Bronwyn / Branwyn / Olwyn on these threads as names for girls. The -wyn suffix is masculine in Welsh, so these are not Welsh names. The female suffix is -wen, so Bronwen / Branwen /Olwen. (I once met a little girl called Olwyn. So sad for her- it's the Welsh word for wheel.)

Here's my honest thoughts:
Mali - no too close to Bali
Cadi - too much like tea caddy
Ani- yes
Mabli - too much like Mowgli from the Jungle Book
Llio - too close to lilo.

I am a Welsh learner, my partner and his family are all fluent ☺️

Llio - Leo (as soon as I had thought Leo I then realised that ll is cl in Welsh and that it's maybe more like Cleo but it wasn't my first thought)
@Yewlez , LL isn't 'CL'. Or 'THL' or 'L'

None of these are particularly fashionable though. I’d avoid Rhys, Rhiannon and Huw because of the difference in pronunciation. Even in Wales there is a difference between in pronunciation between Welsh and English first language speakers. I think it will depend whether you speak Welsh yourself.
This.

Many of the names mentioned belong in the 1960s. As with @DontyMon , Check with a Welsh speaker before you decide but also check with someone who does not speak Welsh at all.

I love Carys and Seren.
Mabli is cute.

Are you in Wales? I really can’t see the connection between these especially Lilo

Obviously spell check played a blinder there!!

I like Mali and Mabli

Ok well I still don't know how to pronounce it then so it's probably not a good choice.

Alys

My only connection to Wales is having been for less than 24 hours to attend a wedding.

I would not be sure on the pronunciation of Mali or Cadi. Mabli seems more obvious.

Looking at the 2025 baby names for Wales it has the following obviously Welsh names in the top 100. I’ve put in brackets what my knee jerk pronunciation would be:

Mali (like the African country)
Alys (Alice)
Mabli (No idea but this thread taught me and it seems obvious and pretty!)
Ffion (Fee-on)
Lili (is this Welsh? I’d guess Lily?)
Seren (se-ren - se like sai in said)
Nansi (Nancy)
Eira (ey-ra - ey like Spey)
Efa (e-fa - e like egg)
Elsi (Elsie)
Eleri (Celery without the C)
Lowri (Lowry)
Anwen (Ann-win)

Apologies for my ignorance! But I hope my ignorance can show you what you might be up against! If anyone wants to educate me, very happy to learn!

Welsh pronunciation dictionary

If you type Llio in, it will give you the pronunciation.

Roughly, the LL is like the CH in German milch (but NOT like the CH in Scottish Loch.
The I (i) is 'ee', and the O is like the O in of (not like the O in No)

LLee-oh.

And it will get said as Lilo.

I like all of your top girl names, OP! I do have a soft spot for Mali and Cadi, though, and know a Llio. I have an Alys.

I'm also a Welsh learner. Mirain, Seren, Ffion, Efa, Carys, Cerys, Elin, Nia, Mair, Mared, Eleri, Teleri, Llinos, Celyn, Gwennan, etc. are all lovely! If they don't know how to pronounce names like Angharad and Rhiannon, they will soon learn, and if not, I'm sure that she will tell them when she is older!

Boys... mmm... Osian, Owain, Jac, Twm, Tomos, Aled, Dafydd, Elis, Emyr, Harri, Gethin, Caerwyn, Morgan... I particularly like Meirion, Eifion and Hefin, though the latter is apparently an 'old man' name!

Mali rhymes with Sally (Sali in Welsh) rather than Bali (country)

Alys isnt quite Alice. There’s more emphasis on the A.

A single “f” in Welsh has a “v” sound so Ev-a with the “E” as in egg.

Eleri isn’t like celery at all. If you think about the middle of “hilarious” it’s more like that.

And Anwen is Ann-wen (like went without the “t”).