Conference tallis::celt

    Hi there,
    
    Here's a few first names for boys that I thought of which are Welsh in
    origin.
    
    Gareth    Huw (Hugh)      Dafydd (variations - Dai, Dewi)
    Steffan   Robyn           Emrys
    Rhys      Clwyd           Dylan
    Aled      Trefor          Emlyn
    Hywel     Rhisiart        Gwyn
    Bryn      Tudur           Gwilym
    Ifor      Ifan            Idris
    Mathonwy  Urien           Rowland
    Ieuan     
    
    Happy Choosing
    
    Catrin          

    
    And;
    
    Iolo - ee-o-lo
    Gwynfor - gwinn-vor
    Sion = sh-uwn  (John)
    Taliesin - tally-essin
    madoc - Mad-ock
    Goronwy - goron-we
    Tudwal - tid-w-al
    Geraint - g-err-eye-nt
    
    (Approximate South Wales prounounciation, North Walians may
    disagree...)
    
    Pob Hwyl,
    
    Colin
    

    
    A few more:
    
    	Iwan
    	Gwyndaf
    	Carwyn
    
    
    regards,
    
    nigel

    
    
    
    Just thought of a few more......
    
    Emyr
    Arfon
    Elwyn
    Gethin
    Dilwyn
    
    Cheers
    Catrin

    some more... 
    
    Rhodri   	Rhys
    Guto	Arwel	
    Gwynedd	Iestyn
    Erfyl	Gwynfryn (as in Hywel,  Ha Ha! {sorry, its a local joke!})
    Iorweth     Dyfed
    Peris	Gruffydd
    Owain	Llywelyn
    
    I'll see if I can remember some more..
    
    Regards, Huw Erfyl Williams.  (UK CSC, Basingstoke).

    Seeing this list of names makes me wonder....is it common for the
    Welsh to substitue a surname for one's given name?  The reason I
    ask is the I found my grandfather's hymnal brought from Wales...
    his name was written as Edward Rhys.....however, as you can see from
    my header....it was Anglicized (yech!) as he was processed through
    Ellis Island, I suppose.....
    
    I work with a Reese Evans, and I went to school with an Evan Reese!
    Could this explain why most of the time I don't know whether I coming
    or going? :-)
    
    Karen
    

    I know a fella called Paddy Rice...but I don't think he would
    like to be called a 'Rice Paddy'  :-) :-)
    

R.e .6>>  Is it common for the Welsh to substitute a surname for one's given
name.

The use of first names and surnames in this way (.6) isn't just Welsh, though
perhaps it occurrs more often in Welsh than other languages - I don't know,but
in English for example  you get names like Andrew Peters, or John Richards and
so on.

In Welsh I think the way that this arose was because of the use of patronymics.
At one time it was very common for people to be identified as Dafydd ap Gwilym,
(David son of William). This way of naming people is also used in other
languages, e.g. Russian - often denoted by the suffix - `ovich' Yuri
Ivanovich and also Gaelic , e.g. Macdonald.

However, as surnames became more common I think a lot of them originated from
the patronymics. Therefore, someone called Aled ab Owen might be called Aled
Bowen or Aled Owen, and someone called Alun ap Richard might be called Alun
Pritchard, or Alun Richards, and so on, with the final result being lots of
people having surnames derived from first names.

If you think about it quite a lot of surnames have originated this way, e.g.
Broderick, Bevan, Preece, Probert (with evidence of the patronymic still there)
and others that have lost it, e.g. Owen, Evans, Roberts, Reese.


Catrin

I think Catrin's right. My surname is almost certainly a patronymic  - Davey, 
derived from David - and there are plenty of variations in patronymics of 
David (Davies, Davy, Davidson, Davis, etc.) and by no means all of them are 
Welsh.

Actually when I say I have Welsh ancestry people always assume my Welsh 
grandfather has my surname, as it sound so Welsh, but he in fact has an 
Anglo name (Westwood). And Davey is in fact as common in East Anglia
(part of England), where my father's family came from, as it is in Wales.

John Davey