Welsh Names

This is the most popular Welsh form of Agnes. Variants include Annest and Nest. There was an eleventh century Nest who was known as 'Helen of Wales' for her beauty and the problems it caused.

Penrose – an ancient locational surname derived from several villages in Cornwall, Wales, and the Welsh border country of England – might work as a first name, although the "Rose" syllable might lead the uninitiated to assume it's a female name. As a middle name, however, it would make for a surprising and distinguished choice. A male Penrose could be called Pen/Penn, Ross or Roe for short.

Tolkien may have been inspired by this unisex name of a Celtic goddess of war. Welsh poet Dylan Thomas named his daughter the variation Aeronwy. With goddess names so hot for baby girls, this ethereal choice is one to consider.

The Gwendoline form may introduce pronunciation confusion -- does that last syllable rhyme with wine or win or when? We vote Gwendolen as not only the most proper but the clearest spelling, followed by Gwendolyn, with Gwendoline a distant third.

This phonetic version of the Welsh Cerys might be easier for Americans, certainly, to understand, but it does lose some poetry in translation.

Unusual floral name which would be perfect for a spring baby girl, if you can pronounce the Welsh double L correctly. It's a tricky sound for non-native Welsh speakers, kind of halfway between an H and an L.

This Welsh name presents some pronunciation/spelling challenges but has a lovely sound and meaning. The name has been used in the South Korean multiplayer game Mabinogi for one of the human healer characters.

This name of the courteous Knight of the Round Table, the nephew of King Arthur, has long been superseded by its Scottish form, Gavin.

Tanwen is a far more singular and colorful alternative to Bronwen.

Spelling variant of Arianwen. Note that in Welsh, the -wyn suffix is usually masculine.

Iago, the villain of Shakespeare's Othello, was so treacherously evil that his name has hardly ever been heard offstage. Try the much-more-benign Inigo.

Popular in Wales, but likely to be mispronounced as Ryan here.

Derived from the name Caradog, the handsome ancient Celtic name was worn by one of the Knights of the Round Table, as well as a semi-legendary Welsh King. Possibly a cognate of Cedric and Carys, Caradoc is ultimately derived from the Brythonic name Caratācos meaning "loved", itself originating from the Celtic karu.

Ever since singer Michelle Branch gave it to her daughter in 2005, Owen has started to be used for a small number of girls each year as well. Just 39 baby girls received the name in 2021, compared with over 8700 boys.

Short, simple, gentle, undeniably Welsh but easy to spell and pronounce – there's a lot to like about this underused gem. In the States it's been almost exclusively female, perhaps due to the greater familiarity of Gwen, but it definitely feels like a candidate to reclaim for the boys.

Yet another offshoot of the original John, also sometimes used as Jevan or Yevan.

Short, but still kind of a mouthful.

Emyr is a name that is well-known in Wales, but little heard outside of it. There are several well-known Emyrs, from the famed Welsh novelist and poet Emyr Humphries to footballer Emyr Huws.

Tegwen is nowhere near as pretty as its meaning. Other -wen names -- Anwen, Bronwen, Rhonwen -- have more appeal.

Less than ten percent of the babies named Rhys are girls, whereas Reese is given five times more often to girls than to boys, thanks to Ms. Witherspoon. It's a sleek and attractive name, but one that benefits from two accepted spellings that help clarify its gender identity.