Welsh baby names for a girl

[Anonymous]

I like the sound of a lot of Welsh names and my grandmother on one side was Welsh, so we are looking at these names for our daughter. My DH is gravitating to the names that don't automatically scream "Welsh!" but I actually really like a lot of the more unusual names. We're looking for something in the middle -- maybe a bit unique but not hard to pronounce and still pretty and recognizably a name. So far we have:

So far, he likes Megan/Meghan, Gwen, or Meredith. I think these are fine but they are not exciting to me.

I like Carys, Emlyn (I have a family member named Emily who we could also honor with this name), Talaith, and Catrin. He doesn't hate these but feels they will be often mispronounced or misspelled and I see his point, though I also think that any name can be misspelled or pronounced (I have a very common western name and this still happens to me at times) and these names are all fairly short.

So far our compromise list is:

Rhiannon
Dylan
Guinivere
Gwendolyn

Thoughts on any of these, or ideas for others?

[Anonymous]

I am of Welsh descent. I thought about Gwendolyn for mine but it does not suit her and I don't like "Gwen". Honestly Welsh names don't really appeal to me generally. Of these, Meredith is my favorite.

Also, fun fact, Jennifer is a modern derivation of Guinevere.

My 2 cents, don't do Dylan for a girl. Hate it.

[Anonymous]

Your DH is right. The easiest to spell and pronounce names are the best. Save your list for the middle name.

[Anonymous]

Morgan

[Anonymous]

I only like Catrin or Dylan on your side, but really like Megan and Meredith on his side. Make the middle name super-Welsh.

[Anonymous]

I love Rhiannon so much

[Anonymous]

Other Welsh girl's names that aren't too unusual:

Beca
Alys
Elin
Catriona
Mari
Nia

[Anonymous]

I don’t think Carys is an issue. I love that name. my kids and I have short, easy to pronounce names and people still get them wrong from time to time so I wouldn’t really worry about mispronouncing unless it’s something really off the wall.

[Anonymous]

Elen
Sara
Cari

But I love both Meredith and Carys.

[Anonymous]

Remember to do the "yell it across a crowded playground" test. I wanted to name my DD Aurelia but it did NOT pass the test (or the "can redneck Grandma pronounce it" test).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other Welsh girl's names that aren't too unusual:

Beca
Alys
Elin
Catriona
Mari
Nia

OP here. DH specifically doesn't like names that are the Welsh version/spelling of relatively common names. His feeling is why do Beca when we could do Becca, or Alys when we could do Alice, or Elin when we could do Ellen. While I like some of these spellings, I get his point and agree that if the name will be pronounced exactly the same as the more common spelling, it doesn't make sense to do the Welsh spelling -- it will just make things harder for everyone without actually getting a unique name.

I like Catriona but he prefers Catrin which I also like so that's the one that made the list.

[Anonymous]

I like Rhiannon, Catrin, and Meredith from your list! Catrin is the one most likely to be mistaken for Kaitlin constantly in my opinion though. Rhiannon and Meredith less so.

[Anonymous]

But Elen/Elin is not Ellen. It’s E-Lin. Not L-Lin.

I get what he’s saying about Beca and Alys. Sara and Erin are both totally normal names that are also Welsh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:But Elen/Elin is not Ellen. It’s E-Lin. Not L-Lin.

I get what he’s saying about Beca and Alys. Sara and Erin are both totally normal names that are also Welsh.

Don't do Elin, everyone will think Tiger Woods' humiliated ex-wife

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Other Welsh girl's names that aren't too unusual:

Beca
Alys
Elin
Catriona
Mari
Nia

I think something like Alys or Elin is a good compromise. Your child will not appreciate having a weird name that no one can spell or pronounce when she doesn’t even have a strong connection to the culture. If you’re not teaching her Welch this is not the time to fly your cultural flag.