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HelpRe: Welsh BAs
in reply to a message by Pie
Gwen Eluned has a gorgeous, moonlit feel. I love the parents' and grandparents' names too..especially Michael & Gaynor.
Twm Aron is cool. Is Twm pronounced like the word tomb?
I love Mia Haf, and the 3-letter names theme with her sister Eli Wyn is cool.
How is Ynyr pronounced? I'm assuming OO-noor.
Osian Llywelyn is awesome. Is Llywelyn the preferred spelling among Welsh speakers? I was only familiar with Llewelyn / Llewellyn.
Elysteg is intriguing. Do you know anything about the name?
Also, I know you've been posting these for a while, but I have a few quesitons I've never asked about these BA's. Do you only post the ones where the kids have Welsh names? Or does nearly everyone in this particular area in North Wales have a Welsh name? Anyhow, it's all interesting to me, since I imagine it is quite different in South Wales. Actually, anything you could tell me about the history and geography of Welsh naming would be interesting.
Twm Aron is cool. Is Twm pronounced like the word tomb?
I love Mia Haf, and the 3-letter names theme with her sister Eli Wyn is cool.
How is Ynyr pronounced? I'm assuming OO-noor.
Osian Llywelyn is awesome. Is Llywelyn the preferred spelling among Welsh speakers? I was only familiar with Llewelyn / Llewellyn.
Elysteg is intriguing. Do you know anything about the name?
Also, I know you've been posting these for a while, but I have a few quesitons I've never asked about these BA's. Do you only post the ones where the kids have Welsh names? Or does nearly everyone in this particular area in North Wales have a Welsh name? Anyhow, it's all interesting to me, since I imagine it is quite different in South Wales. Actually, anything you could tell me about the history and geography of Welsh naming would be interesting.
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Twm is the Welsh version of Tom. The w is an oo sound, but it's short, more like the oo in book.
Ynyr is un-eer - y in Welsh is an uh sound unless it's in a final syllable, when it's usually a short i sound.
Llywelyn is the usual and the original spelling, Llewelyn is a common variant, and Llewellyn is an anglicisation that wouldn't sound the same as the first two in Welsh.
I had to look up Elysteg because I've never seen it before, and it seems to be a modern invention, possibly based on Eliseg (not really a name: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Pillar_of_Eliseg) - including use as a middle name, there have only ever been 7 of them.
Re the BAs - I do post the non-Welsh ones, Ella and William aren't Welsh names! but these BAs are nearly all published in Welsh, and come mostly from Gwynedd and Anglesey, counties which have the highest concentrations of Welsh speakers in Wales. So yes, there are far more Welsh names in them than you'd get elsewhere. Sadly the 2010 name data only has the top 100 specifically for Wales, so I can't do a proper breakdown of percentage of Welsh names used. But there were only 19 Welsh male names (counting the anglicisations Owen, Evan, Ellis & Lloyd) and 13 Welsh female names in the Welsh top 100. It almost makes me want to have ten kids and give them the very Welshest Welsh names ever.
Ynyr is un-eer - y in Welsh is an uh sound unless it's in a final syllable, when it's usually a short i sound.
Llywelyn is the usual and the original spelling, Llewelyn is a common variant, and Llewellyn is an anglicisation that wouldn't sound the same as the first two in Welsh.
I had to look up Elysteg because I've never seen it before, and it seems to be a modern invention, possibly based on Eliseg (not really a name: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Pillar_of_Eliseg) - including use as a middle name, there have only ever been 7 of them.
Re the BAs - I do post the non-Welsh ones, Ella and William aren't Welsh names! but these BAs are nearly all published in Welsh, and come mostly from Gwynedd and Anglesey, counties which have the highest concentrations of Welsh speakers in Wales. So yes, there are far more Welsh names in them than you'd get elsewhere. Sadly the 2010 name data only has the top 100 specifically for Wales, so I can't do a proper breakdown of percentage of Welsh names used. But there were only 19 Welsh male names (counting the anglicisations Owen, Evan, Ellis & Lloyd) and 13 Welsh female names in the Welsh top 100. It almost makes me want to have ten kids and give them the very Welshest Welsh names ever.
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