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Help[Opinions] Re: Irish girl's name that would work in Wales?
in reply to a message by Karen W.
Names from different countries can still be spoken by people who aren't from that country of origin, a Chinese person named Yanmei could move to England and still be called Yanmei, I would pick an Irish name seeing as she's an Irish princess.
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Within Europe (I'm assuming the story is set in somewhat distant past) names would generally be translated, especially if a member of royalty assumed a new position in a new country. Even now prince Charles is Tywysog Siarl in Welsh. So it stands to reason that the hypothetical Irish princess's name would also have been translated by speakers of Welsh. Or at the very least "welshified" - made to be possible/easier to pronounce in Welsh (the same way Yanmei is already kind of translated because first it's not the original spelling and second it doesn't account for tones).
I can't help with the actual problem though. The first thing that comes to my mind is finding an incredibly widespread name that exists in both Irish and Welsh (like Jane: Síne and Siân) but it's kind of cheating.
I can't help with the actual problem though. The first thing that comes to my mind is finding an incredibly widespread name that exists in both Irish and Welsh (like Jane: Síne and Siân) but it's kind of cheating.
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Those are some good suggestions, thank you! The issue I have is that I'm not really finding Welsh 'translations' of typically Irish names, or vice versa. I can only really find names with a Germanic, Latin or Greek/Hebrew origin that have since been translated in both Welsh and Irish.
An Irish name that could be "welshified" without too many modifications would be perfect, unfortunately I don't know enough about the Welsh language to know what would happen to the name in question. How would one, for example, welshify a lovely Irish name as Saoirse? The Welsh word for 'freedom' is "rhyddid" according to my dictionary, but that doesn't have a similar sound so would work less well as a name... (at least Charles and Siarl have a similar proununciaton).
An Irish name that could be "welshified" without too many modifications would be perfect, unfortunately I don't know enough about the Welsh language to know what would happen to the name in question. How would one, for example, welshify a lovely Irish name as Saoirse? The Welsh word for 'freedom' is "rhyddid" according to my dictionary, but that doesn't have a similar sound so would work less well as a name... (at least Charles and Siarl have a similar proununciaton).
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I wish I could help more. Another idea I had was to look at Irish saints because their names are commonly translated but the only one I could find was Bridget (Bríd) who apparently in Wales has two names and "Brîd is more common in the south and Ffraid in the north" but it's a very common name and strongly associated with the saint. I'm afraid that's as far as my research will get me without speaking Welsh. I hope you find the right name soon.
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