Welsh Names

Also spelled Madog, which was the name of an early Welshman, Madog ap Owain Gwynedd, reputed to have been the first European to discover North America in 1155. Maddox, the name of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's oldest child, is a stronger and more familiar choice.

This can make an unusual yet simple middle name choice, especially for anyone with family ties to Wales.

A cross-cultural name that can be a nickname for David and can be pronounced Day (preferable to die), but is also the name of a vicious Asian villain.

Now that the midcentury sound-alike name Gail for girls is sailing out to sea, Gael is becoming an increasingly popular name for boys -- and could make the gender switch in the opposite direction again.

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.

An offbeat way to get to Gwen.

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

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

Common in Wales, but would really stand out here. One of the middle names of Stella McCartney's daughter Reiley; Dilys Powell was a well-known British film critic, Professor Dilys Derwent a Harry Potter character., a witch who worked as a Healer at St. Mungo's Hospital, and was a celebrated Headmistress of Hogwarts School..

This 1950s Welsh bird name sounds less dated than our fifties Robin.

Ceri is traditionally a Welsh masculine name which historically has been Anglicised to "Kerry", but we love the Welsh original. Famous Ceris include British painter Ceri Richards and New Zealand soccer player Ceri Evans. Be aware that Ceri is sometimes used as a female name, both as a standalone name and as a shortening of the Welsh female name Ceridwen.

Especially if you have Welsh roots, this prominent saint's name could be an interesting and more masculine alternative to Taylor.

A diminutive of the (male) name Dafydd, the Welsh form of David. In the US, it's strongly associated with the candy.

If you want to go waaaaay beyond William, consider this Welsh form, which can also be spelled Gwilym, Gwilim, or Gwillym.

Looks unusual and a little on the brink of weird; sounds like a little lioness named Leo.

Tanwyn is a modern Welsh name that can work for either sex depending on the spelling -- wyn is the traditional boys' spelling, while wen as in Tanwen is the girls' version.

Famous bearers include surfer Tanwyn Travers and the hero of a Victorian Welsh legend titled Envy Burns Itself.

This name of a legendary Welsh prince could serve as a more original alternative to Adam or Aidan, though it does sound a tad chemical.

Known as a British royal family line as well as a style of architecture, this name has a forbidding solemnity; schoolmates might also confuse it with tutor.

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.