I really love this name! I love almost all things Celtic and am an avid Welsh learner, so that being said it's not a huge surprise, but there are Celtic/Welsh names out there that I don't particularly like at all. Celyn is so lovely though. Because all the Celyns I've heard of are females, it's quite difficult for me to picture a male Celyn, I can only see this name work on a young boy but not a grown up man, while on a woman I feel like it could age much better. I wonder whether Celyn isn't a bit like Evelyn was in English - traditionally masculine but now almost exclusively feminine - because seriously I haven't heard of a single Welsh guy named Celyn. I am not Welsh though nor do I live in Wales so my idea is surely very limited and I may be wrong. I think I personally also have a problem picturing this name on a guy because Celyn is spelled so much like Celine, Marcellyn and other such feminine names, which in my opinion gives it some of their gentleness. On the other hand names like Kellan/Kellen are popular in the Anglophone world and in pronunciation Celyn is only slightly different from those. So yeah, I think it's the spelling that makes it seem so feminine to me. I have all sorts of lovely associations with it, makes me think of the very talented Celyn Cartwright, and the historical Welsh place called Garth Celyn, as well as a song about it. As I already said, it also feels very similar in my head to Celine despite the different pronunciation and I do love Celine as well. I honestly don't know if this name could work out in the English-speaking but non-Welsh-speaking parts of the world. I think a lot of people would try to pronounce it SE-lin or even exactly like Celine, feels inevitable if even I as a Welsh learner still have the Celine association, that people who won't have a clue about Welsh will feel the same. But then -lyn names are all the rage, and K names are very trendy too, and Celyn has a nature meaning, as well as a very modern feel when looking at it from an English perspective, so perhaps why not? It's short and sweet and could appeal to many people. But I think it definitely would be a lovely, unexpected and cool option as a middle name, especially if you have some Welsh heritage and/or your child was born around Christmas. In Wales, I think it would be great if it was more popular as a first name.
I know Celyn is traditionally a masculine name, but I like it better as a girl’s name. It just looks more feminine and delicate to me. It’s still masculine enough to work on a boy. I love this name for either gender, but I think it’s slightly more feminine than masculine, not too feminine, it’s still a great boy’s name, but a lovely girl’s name too. The meaning also makes it a perfect girl’s name. “Holly”.
― Anonymous User 1/18/2019
-4
I really like this name, even though I'm normally not a fan of Welsh names beginning with a hard 'C'. For some reason, names beginning with a 'KELL' sound always sound strong to me. And I like the meaning; anything that reminds me of Christmas is a-okay in my book!
This seems like it would be a nice middle name. I probably wouldn't give it as a first name, because it sounds rather feminine and people would forever be mispronouncing it.