Welsh names

[Enwau]

I've just been reading through baby names threads..

There was a comment about non-welsh people using Welsh names being cultural appropriation... !

I didn't want to derail the thread any more than it had been so thought I'd ask here what people think about those with zero Welsh heritage or connections using Welsh names for their offspring?

I'm undecided. It's nice to see Welsh names out there but I also dislike nouveau spellings and different pronunciations ... But that's just me being precious.

You can call your kids anything you want! Like Megan Markle got called Megan and she's not welsh.

Countries don't own names!

Not Welsh bit I'm irish and I feel similar to you. Love seeing people appreciate the names but hate it when they butcher the spellings !

I was born in Wales but moved to England as a baby. My parents are both English.

My daughter has a welsh name and I know my husband was worried we weren't 'welsh enough' to use it.

I consider myself welsh in some ways (my birth certificate is in welsh) but I don't remember my time living there.

Im not sure where I fall on the debate, but I suppose as long as you like a name it's ok....

I don’t think it’s cultural appropriation.

I really wanted to give DS a Welsh name (I’m Welsh but lived in England for the last 20 years). Couldn’t find a boys name we like that is easy to pronounce though, so he has Llewelyn as a middle name.

I'm a Gael and I love it when I see Gaelic names. I prefer folk to use the real spelling if possible but I do understand when it's hard to spell or pronounce for English speakers.

It's not cultural appropriation to use a name from another culture. That's when you take something from a culture and erase its origins. I suppose you might argue that Hamish is cultural appropriation of Seumas because it's an anglicisation (no doubt there are examples in Welsh) but you'd have to be very precious to get wound up about it imo.

Sometimes I suppose it might seem a bit odd to use a name you have no cultural connection with. Not sure I would have considered Slumko or Pedro or Mohammed or Shoghi. But then I have friends who have used Leila without Middle Eastern connections so I guess there's no harm in it.

That’s hilarious! Some people truly are professionally offended.
I love hearing Welsh names. Butchering the spelling and pronunciation pisses me off.

I think it is cultural appropriation and I find it annoying. I live in a part of Wales where actual welsh people are hanging on by a thread, while the english people moving here think it is cool to give their children welsh names. So that colours my view rather !

DH and I are English, live in Wales. Our children were born here and consider themselves Welsh. DS has a Welsh name and DD's name is of French origin.
I think calling it cultural appropriation is a bit excessive, we chose the names because we liked them, they both meant something to us years ago before we ever moved to Wales.
We do pronounce and spell them correctly though!

I'm so old that I belong to the generation who still believe that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and that the entire concept of "cultural appropriation" is an example of the oversensitive jumping on a chance to upbraid others for enjoying and wishing to celebrate a culture they weren't born into.

Welsh speakers don't generally mind 'appropriation'. Our aim is for the language to survive so the more of it around the better.
I personally wince at names being pronounced incorrectly even though I know it's normal and can't really be stopped.
I think it would be good for you to research what the name means, how to spell it properly and pronounce it correctly in Welsh.

I mind appropriation. I don’t see the point of the language surviving in a technical way, like latin, if there are no welsh communities left .
Possibly coloured by the area I live in.

@SirVixofVixHall

I think it is cultural appropriation and I find it annoying. I live in a part of Wales where actual welsh people are hanging on by a thread, while the english people moving here think it is cool to give their children welsh names. So that colours my view rather !

but surely if their children are born in Wales then the children themselves are welsh, and therefore perfectly entitled to a welsh name? It's not their fault their parents lived somewhere else before they were born!

"I live in a part of Wales where actual welsh people are hanging on by a thread"

The disappearance of Welsh names is not going to help that. Rather the opposite if people at least learn how to read and pronounce names.

She spells it Meghan. I don’t think of that spelling as Welsh.

I’m Scottish but have a Welsh name. I don’t really know the thought behind it other than my mum heard it and liked it (I know some Aunts from my dads side had moved to Wales). My sisters name is Scottish, so I can’t help but wonder if mum had had another child if it would have maybe been an Irish name.

Whenever people are unsure of my name (which is often) I always explain it’s origin. (Interestingly in more recent years I have seen some bastardisations of the spelling/pronunciation and that pisses even me off a little).

Honestly I was completely done with the whole cultural appropriation thing when I saw someone use the statement ‘my culture is not your costume’ when referring to a kilt.

Yes parts of cultures have been almost wiped out (the use of Scottish Gaelic for instance is dire in comparison to welsh) but things have forever and will forever change culturally. That’s kind of the joy of being human.

I’d be interested to know for instance if there is a colloquial Welsh English? Scots for instance is a recognised language and whilst it borrows massively from English it is distinctly different so am intrigued to know if something similar has happened in Wales?

My point being that whilst one language disappears another has been born, because things will forever culturally evolve, and that includes global influence, as well as cultural exports due to the world we live in.

I think as long as the person using the name knows how it's pronounced, spelt, what it means and where it comes from then it's ok most of the time.

I do, however, think people should avoid any names/words if research tells them that they're of particular important to another culture or religion.

This is an English perspective though by the way. My Pop's family were from Anglesey but that's the only Welsh connection I have 😅

It would be ok if there was a strong connection, like if one of the parents is welsh (and Welsh-speaking), but if there is no connection and the original pronunciation of the name isn't used, then I don't like it or understand it.

The names are usually dated and get misspelt or mispronounced, and if you are going to call your child something like Alun, but say it as Alan, or Huw and say it as Hugh, then why not use the english spelling

The names are usually dated and get misspelt or mispronounced, and if you are going to call your child something like Alun, but say it as Alan, or Huw and say it as Hugh, then why not use the english spelling

Quite.
Sian pronounced “Cyan” really winds me up! I don’t think of it as cultural appropriation though, I just think they sound daft.

@MrsJaniceBing , it's daft, but is it any worse than naming the child Rhian, but saying it as Reeun?

On the Baby Name threads, any Welsh name thread will contain a suggestion for Bronwyn and Meredith for a girl and Geraint and Idris for a boy.

One of my DDs has a Welsh name - both DH and I raised in England (so English accents) but we wanted to give her a Welsh name because DH and I were at the same university in Wales when we met. We both adored it there and, if we feasibly could, we would 100% still live there. We do both have Welsh ancestry (one grandparent each) and my mum was also born there too, although her parents were Scottish and she moved back to Scotland as a baby...

I do feel a little self-conscious about the fact we both sound very English when we say her name if I'm honest, but we do make the effort to pronounce it correctly. I would really hope we have enough of a tie to beautiful Wales that someone could understand why we went down that route.

@DaNiYmaOHyd that is equally daft. As is Reece for Rhys. Naming a child a name you don’t know how to say is just odd.

@MrsJaniceBing , I agree with you. The anglicised versions usually sound bad, and I'd say that about names from any other language (Amelie, Elodie, Niamh etc) and the names are usually quite middle-aged (Amelie, Dylan, Carys/Cerys etc)

@Kittypillar, without kowing the name, (I'm guessing Eira), I'd say that was bordering on CA. She's only 1/8th welsh, has no connection with the culture or language, and is living outside the country.

Add to that, that the name I suggested won't get the welsh pronunciation. Ey-ruh or Eye-ra hurts my big welsh ears.

My DD has a Welsh name because I like it. And DS an Irish name for the same reason. We are neither Welsh or Irish.

Many of the English were ‘Welsh’ once. Recent evidence seems to indicate that the Angles, Saxons , Jutes and Danes were just a small overlay on the native ‘ Celtic’ population. Being the dominant ‘ aristocracy’ the language followed the rulers.

So maybe the users of Cymric names ( Welsh being a linguistic slight) are honouring their heritage.

You're in the Draignet threads, @KangarooKenny. If one changes that to "My DD has a Punjabi name because I like it. And DS a Twi name for the same reason. We are neither punjabi or ghanaian." is it still OK?

@Cheeseandlove , there is a welsh form of english - Wenglish. It contains dialect and Welsh words. There are phrases or words that might only get used in a small area. It's nothing like Welsh.