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Welsh names carry something the rest of the Celtic naming world doesn’t quite have. Where Irish names lean lyrical and Scottish names lean rugged, Welsh names tend to feel ancient in a quieter way — woven through with mist and slate and the cadence of a language that has been spoken in the same valleys for over fifteen hundred years. Many of them come straight from the medieval poems of Taliesin and Aneirin, or from the Mabinogion, that strange and beautiful collection of stories where giants barter for brides and severed heads keep prophesying after death.
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When referencing popularity, I am referring to baby name data from Social Security Administration database in the United States for 2025, which is the most current year of data available.
Here’s what’s in store –
Names From Arthurian Legend and the Mabinogion
Names of the Welsh Bards and Saints
Princely and Royal Welsh Names
Welsh Names From Nature and Landscape
Compound Welsh Names With Layered Meaning
Welsh Names Beginning With Gwyn (Fair, Blessed, White)
If you’re drawn to a name with real depth — something a child can grow into and a librarian will still be able to pronounce in eighty years — Welsh is a remarkable place to look. The sound system is genuinely different from English: that double-L (Ll) is a soft airy hiss rather than a hard consonant, “w” often functions as a vowel (“Llew” rhymes loosely with “Hugh”), and “f” is pronounced like a v. Don’t let the spellings intimidate you. Once you hear them said aloud, they tend to settle in.
A note before the list. Wales has a long tradition of giving names that mean something specific about a person — “fair-browed,” “great king,” “blessed chief” — rather than abstract virtues. So the meanings here are often quite concrete. I’ve kept the origin notes honest: where a name comes through Brythonic Celtic, I’ve said so; where it’s a borrowing the Welsh made distinctly their own (like Steffan for Stephen), I’ve noted that too.
The names below are organized by feeling, not alphabet — Arthurian heroes together, bardic and poetic names together, nature names together — so you can browse the mood you’re already in.
Names From Arthurian Legend and the Mabinogion
These are the deep cuts: kings, knights, sorcerers, and shepherds from the oldest surviving British stories. Many predate the French Arthurian romances by centuries and feel more rooted because of it.
- Origin: Welsh/Brythonic
- Meaning: Possibly “bear” or “stone”
- Popularity: #105
The once and future king; surprisingly wearable as a soft modern classic.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Lord of the Otherworld
- Popularity: Rare
Pronounced “AR-own”; ruler of Annwn in the First Branch of the Mabinogion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Birch-man”
- Popularity: Rare
The original Sir Bedivere, Arthur’s one-handed companion who returned Excalibur to the lake.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Raven”
- Popularity: #11099
The giant king whose head was buried under the Tower of London to protect Britain.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of uncertain ancient origin
- Popularity: #1902
The original Sir Kay; brash, loyal, and one of Arthur’s earliest companions.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From the root meaning “chief” or “great”
- Popularity: Rare
A warrior-poet mourned in the sixth-century elegy Y Gododdin.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Tumult, riot”
- Popularity: Rare
The Welsh original of Tristan, the doomed lover of Iseult.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Unpeaceful one”
- Popularity: Rare
The volatile half-brother whose temper destroys two kingdoms in the Mabinogion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of disputed origin, possibly “old”
- Popularity: Rare
A knight of Arthur’s court and the subject of Tennyson’s poem.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Hawk of May”
- Popularity: Rare
The Welsh original of Sir Gawain — sharper, fiercer, and far more interesting than the English version.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “born of trees”
- Popularity: Rare
The trickster-magician of the Fourth Branch who shapes a wife out of flowers.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Light, bright one”
- Popularity: Rare
The doomed solar hero of the Mabinogion, killed only by an impossible combination of weapons.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Son” or “youthful god”
- Popularity: Rare
The divine youth stolen from his mother three nights after birth.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of pre-Welsh origin
- Popularity: Rare
A patient, craftsman-king from the Third Branch — Welsh cousin to the Irish Manannán.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Bear”
- Popularity: Rare
The wise old magician-king of Gwynedd, teacher of Gwydion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Old Welsh form of Mordred
- Popularity: Rare
Arthur’s nephew and killer; a darker, harder name than its modern counterpart.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “sea-fortress”
- Popularity: Rare
The original Merlin, before French scribes softened the spelling.
- Origin: Welsh, from Latin Eugenius
- Meaning: “Young warrior” or “well-born”
- Popularity: #13536
A historical king and Arthurian knight; one of the most enduringly used Welsh names.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Hard spears”
- Popularity: Rare
The Welsh Percival, a forest-raised innocent who finds the Grail castle.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Care, anxiety”
- Popularity: Rare
Named for his mother’s worry; the only character to appear in all four Branches of the Mabinogion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Wisdom, prudence”
- Popularity: Rare
The Lord of Dyfed who trades places with the king of the Otherworld for a year.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of obscure origin
- Popularity: Rare
A dreamer who falls asleep on an ox-hide and meets Arthur in the past.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Radiant brow”
- Popularity: #10750
The semi-mythical 6th-century bard; arguably the most poetic name on this entire list.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair, beautiful”
- Popularity: Rare
Husband of the enchantress Ceridwen; also the Welsh name for Bala Lake.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Privileged birth”
- Popularity: Rare
A historical 6th-century king of Rheged absorbed into Arthurian legend.
Names of the Welsh Bards and Saints
Wales held onto its native poetic tradition longer than almost anywhere else in Europe, and many of these names belonged to real poets and missionaries whose work survives.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “noble” or “modest”
- Popularity: Rare
The 6th-century bard who composed Y Gododdin, one of the oldest poems in Britain.
- Origin: Hebrew, naturalized in Welsh
- Meaning: “God has gathered”
- Popularity: #3687
A 6th-century North Welsh saint; gave his name to the cathedral city of St Asaph.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “ox-like”
- Popularity: Rare
A 7th-century saint famous for raising the dead, including his niece Winifred.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle prince”
- Popularity: Rare
A 12th-century Welsh monk; better known now from Ellis Peters’s medieval mysteries.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle”
- Popularity: Rare
A 6th-century abbot of Llancarfan and one of the founder saints of South Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Likeness, image”
- Popularity: Rare
A 12th-century court poet known as Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr — “Cynddelw the Great Poet.”
- Origin: Hebrew via Welsh
- Meaning: “Beloved”
- Popularity: Rare
The Welsh form of David; borne by the great 14th-century love poet Dafydd ap Gwilym.
- Origin: Welsh/Hebrew
- Meaning: Welsh form of Daniel
- Popularity: Rare
The 6th-century founder of the monastery at Bangor.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh form of David
- Popularity: Rare
The patron saint of Wales; pronounced “DEW-ee.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Water-prince”
- Popularity: Rare
A 5th-century bishop said to have crowned Arthur king.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Autumn”
- Popularity: Rare
Pen-name of the beloved Nonconformist minister and poet Howell Elvet Lewis.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of uncertain ancient origin
- Popularity: Rare
The 18th-century poet Goronwy Owen revived classical Welsh meter.
- Origin: Welsh, Germanic root
- Meaning: Welsh form of William
- Popularity: Rare
The everyday Welsh William, worn by countless poets and farmers alike.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Peace”
- Popularity: Rare
Short and quiet; carried by the WWI poet Hedd Wyn, killed at Passchendaele.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Lord of all”
- Popularity: Rare
A 6th-century saint who founded one of Britain’s earliest centers of learning at Llanilltud Fawr.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh diminutive of Iorwerth
- Popularity: Rare
Famously borne by Iolo Morganwg, the 18th-century antiquarian and inventor of the modern Gorsedd.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Handsome lord”
- Popularity: Rare
A medieval royal name; the source of the diminutive Iolo.
- Origin: Welsh, Germanic root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Lewis
- Popularity: Rare
A traditional spelling worn by the 16th-century bard Lewys Glyn Cothi.
- Origin: Welsh, from Latin Paternus
- Meaning: “Fatherly”
- Popularity: Rare
A 6th-century saint and one of the founders of Welsh monasticism.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Patrick
- Popularity: Rare
Yes, the great Apostle of Ireland was Welsh; this is his hometown form.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Ardor, enthusiasm”
- Popularity: #354
One of the most enduring Welsh boy names, worn by the medieval prince Rhys ap Gruffydd.
- Origin: Welsh, Greek root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Stephen
- Popularity: #10652
Soft and intentional; pronounced “STEFF-an.”
- Origin: Welsh, Celtic root
- Meaning: “People-king”
- Popularity: Rare
Yes, this is where the Tudor dynasty got its name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of obscure Welsh origin
- Popularity: Rare
A 7th-century prince-turned-monk; the legendary author of an early Welsh chronicle.
Princely and Royal Welsh Names
Wales had real kings and princes well into the 13th century, and these names belonged to them — or to the historical kings the bards remembered.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle leader”
- Popularity: Rare
A 7th-century king of Gwynedd, later mythologized as a returning Welsh messiah.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle scatterer”
- Popularity: Rare
A 7th-century king of Gwynedd who briefly broke Northumbrian power.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle”
- Popularity: Rare
A 9th-century king of Powys; the diminutive feels accessible now.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Beloved”
- Popularity: Rare
Welsh form of the 1st-century chieftain Caratacus, who famously stood trial in Rome.
- Origin: Welsh, Brythonic
- Meaning: “Good lord”
- Popularity: Rare
The 5th-century founder of the royal house of Gwynedd.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Chief”
- Popularity: Rare
A common name in early Welsh dynasties; modern and crisp.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of uncertain Welsh origin
- Popularity: Rare
A 9th-century king of Powys whose pillar still stands in the Vale of Llangollen.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Strong lord” or “powerful chief”
- Popularity: Rare
Borne by Llywelyn the Great’s father; pronounced roughly “GRIFF-ith.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Eminent, conspicuous”
- Popularity: Rare
King Hywel Dda (“Hywel the Good”) codified Welsh law in the 10th century.
- Origin: Welsh, Brythonic
- Meaning: “Ardent lord”
- Popularity: #739
A legendary giant-astronomer whose seat is Cadair Idris in Snowdonia.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Justin
- Popularity: Rare
The last independent ruler of Glamorgan in the 11th century.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Lord”
- Popularity: Rare
Pronounced “EE-vor”; the source of the anglicized name Ivor.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Lion-like” or “leader”
- Popularity: #4495
Llewelyn the Last was the final native Prince of Wales, killed in 1282.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Praise-worthy lord”
- Popularity: Rare
A 6th-century prince to whom a famous cycle of elegies is attributed.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fortunate”
- Popularity: Rare
A legendary 12th-century prince said to have discovered America before Columbus.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Princely hound”
- Popularity: Rare
A powerful 6th-century king of Gwynedd, scolded by Gildas for his sins.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Sea-born”
- Popularity: #276
A unisex ancient name, originally exclusively male in Welsh tradition.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Anglicized form of Owain
- Popularity: #26
The accessible spelling that travels easily outside Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Wheel king” or “circle ruler”
- Popularity: Rare
Rhodri Mawr (“the Great”) unified much of Wales in the 9th century.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Samuel
- Popularity: Rare
A legendary 6th-century king; an alternative to the more common Samuel.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh form derived from Latin Sextilius
- Popularity: Rare
A 9th-century king of Ceredigion.
- Origin: Welsh, Brythonic
- Meaning: “Great lord”
- Popularity: Rare
The 5th-century king blamed by tradition for inviting the Saxons to Britain.
Welsh Names From Nature and Landscape
The Welsh have always named children after the country itself — its mountains, rivers, weather, and wildlife.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “River”
- Popularity: Rare
Simple, elemental, and unexpected; pronounced “AH-von.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Hill”
- Popularity: #2098
Short, sturdy, and one of the few Welsh names that’s traveled easily.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly from Latin Caius, but folk-associated with “key” or “rejoice”
- Popularity: #1902
Crisp single-syllable.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Blessed love”
- Popularity: Rare
Famously borne by rugby legend Carwyn James.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish root
- Meaning: Welsh spelling of Kevin
- Popularity: Rare
A naturalized form that feels at home in modern Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Holly”
- Popularity: Rare
Used for boys and girls; evergreen, prickly, beautiful in winter.
- Origin: Welsh/Irish
- Meaning: “Ancient, enduring”
- Popularity: #1525
Shared between the two languages; “KEE-an.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Trust” or “belief”
- Popularity: Rare
The “Old King Cole” of the nursery rhyme was likely a 4th-century British chieftain.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “True friend” or “fair oak”
- Popularity: Rare
Quietly handsome, leaning toward the tree-name reading.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Older Welsh form of Dafydd
- Popularity: Rare
Archaic, very Welsh, very poet.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Silver, bright”
- Popularity: Rare
Used for either gender; conjures snow and clear light.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “White snow”
- Popularity: Rare
A winter name with crystalline edges.
- Origin: Welsh, Greek root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Ambrose, “immortal”
- Popularity: #1138
Also the bardic name claimed by Merlin in early texts.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Valley, glen”
- Popularity: #13128
Sounds like the place it means.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “White, blessed, fair”
- Popularity: #8600
The root behind dozens of compound names; quietly luminous on its own.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Blessed peace”
- Popularity: Rare
A peaceful, gentle name with real Welsh heft.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Summery”
- Popularity: Rare
For a baby born in long-light days.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Lord-rampart” or “wall”
- Popularity: Rare
Cwm Idwal in Snowdonia is one of the most beautiful places in Britain.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of John
- Popularity: Rare
Pronounced “YOO-an”; soft and familiar.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Sea”
- Popularity: Rare
The Welsh sea-god and father of Bran; the ultimate ocean name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of obscure Welsh origin, possibly “iron prince”
- Popularity: Rare
Also the name of a medieval cantref in northeast Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh shortening of names like Marlais
- Popularity: #5712
Crisp and modern-sounding.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From a Welsh place name meaning “moss town”
- Popularity: Rare
Aristocratic but unfussy.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Anglicized short form of Aneirin
- Popularity: Rare
Famously worn by Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, founder of the NHS.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Grand, awesome”
- Popularity: Rare
A 6th-century king of Gwynedd; one of the shortest, sharpest Welsh names.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Great settlement”
- Popularity: Rare
The native Welsh form of Trevor.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair, blessed, white”
- Popularity: #8255
The most common Welsh middle name, but lovely as a first.
Compound Welsh Names With Layered Meaning
The bards loved fusing two roots into one name — courage plus fairness, light plus peace. The result is names that read like miniature poems.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From a river in northern Wales
- Popularity: Rare
Sweet, single-syllable, easily exported.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Variant of Aneirin
- Popularity: Rare
Worn by Nye Bevan; warm and statesmanlike.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair-headed” or “white-haired”
- Popularity: Rare
Also the name of a mountain range in northeast Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Speckled, freckled”
- Popularity: Rare
A legendary 5th-century king said to have fathered 24 saints.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle peak”
- Popularity: Rare
A 6th-century king and saint; sharp and unusual.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle”
- Popularity: Rare
Short, hard-edged, easy to wear.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Glory in battle”
- Popularity: Rare
Substantial; pronounced roughly “ka-DOO-gan.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Blessed love”
- Popularity: Rare
Tender without being fragile.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Beloved, kind”
- Popularity: Rare
The 5th-century king who gave his name to Ceredigion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Chief prince”
- Popularity: Rare
Compact and royal.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Great chief”
- Popularity: Rare
A 5th-century king of Gwent.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Pretty, blessed”
- Popularity: #8973
Soft-edged and bardic.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly from Latin Aelianus
- Popularity: Rare
A North Welsh saint with a holy well.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Butterfly” or “spring”
- Popularity: Rare
A graceful, lesser-known nature name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Bright, shining”
- Popularity: Rare
Rare and luminous.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “many lords”
- Popularity: Rare
A semi-mythical Welsh prince; Llyn Idwal sits in his valley.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly from Latin Aemilianus
- Popularity: #11362
Soft, handsome, increasingly used outside Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Gold”
- Popularity: Rare
A modern coinage from the root aur (“gold”).
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Golden”
- Popularity: Rare
Rare and gleaming.
- Origin: Welsh/Arthurian
- Meaning: Possibly “gentle”
- Popularity: #2637
The kind, doomed knight of Arthur’s court.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “old”
- Popularity: Rare
Tennyson’s Idylls of the King put this one back in circulation.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Valley of water”
- Popularity: Rare
Owain Glyndwr was the last native-born Welsh person crowned Prince of Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of uncertain ancient origin
- Popularity: Rare
The doomed lover in the Fourth Branch of the Mabinogion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Summery”
- Popularity: Rare
Light, warm, evocative of long evenings.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Cupbearer, server”
- Popularity: #9788
One of only seven survivors of the catastrophic war in the Second Branch.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Diminutive of Iorwerth
- Popularity: Rare
Friendly and modern-sounding.
- Origin: Brythonic
- Meaning: “Light”
- Popularity: Rare
The pan-Celtic god of light, called Lleu in Welsh; the Lleu form is more authentically Welsh.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Maximus
- Popularity: #3560
Macsen Wledig — the historical Emperor Magnus Maximus — is a hero of Welsh tradition.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Bear”
- Popularity: Rare
A magician-king; short and weighty.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Pretty thing”
- Popularity: #2060
Used for both genders in older Welsh tradition.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Singer, harpist”
- Popularity: Rare
A 20th-century coinage with bardic resonance.
- Origin: Welsh, Aramaic root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Thomas
- Popularity: Rare
The familiar Tom in Welsh dress.
Welsh Names Beginning With Gwyn (Fair, Blessed, White)
The root gwyn shows up in more Welsh boy names than almost any other — it carries the older meaning of “blessed” or “holy” as much as a literal color. These deserve their own section.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair, blessed, white”
- Popularity: #8600
The root itself; clean and luminous.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From the kingdom in northwest Wales
- Popularity: Rare
Used for both genders; pronounced “GWIN-eth.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair lord”
- Popularity: Rare
Gwynfor Evans was Plaid Cymru’s first MP in 1966.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “White hill”
- Popularity: Rare
Substantial and pastoral.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Blessed leader”
- Popularity: Rare
A 5th-century king and saint, father of Cadog.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Variant spelling of Gwyn
- Popularity: #8087
The doubled n nods to Anglo-Welsh tradition.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Blessed peace”
- Popularity: Rare
A name shaped like a small prayer.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Blessed love”
- Popularity: Rare
One of the more wearable -wyn compounds.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Pretty and blessed”
- Popularity: #8973
Quietly handsome.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “White-headed”
- Popularity: Rare
Also a mountain range.
- Origin: Welsh, Old English root
- Meaning: Welsh-flavored variant of Edwin
- Popularity: #5091
Familiar but with a Welsh accent.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “White snow”
- Popularity: Rare
A name made for January babies.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Possibly “exalted, blessed”
- Popularity: Rare
A name from the Mabinogion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair and blessed”
- Popularity: Rare
Soft, gentle, traditional.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Tumult” with a -wyn-style softness in modern usage
- Popularity: #4853
The Welsh Tristan.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair, blessed”
- Popularity: #8255
The root standing alone; elegant.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Fair lord” or “white ford”
- Popularity: Rare
A 20th-century coinage that wears well.
Modern Welsh Boy Names Worn Today
These are names you’d actually meet on a school register in Cardiff or Caernarfon right now — proof the tradition is fully alive.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From a river
- Popularity: Rare
Singer Aled Jones brought this one to wider attention.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Prominent”
- Popularity: Rare
Composer Arwel Hughes; melodic and grounded.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Variant of Bedwyr
- Popularity: Rare
Crisper and more contemporary-sounding.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh form of Latin Caius
- Popularity: #3695
Surging in popularity among young Welsh parents.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “First day of the month”
- Popularity: #3796
A name for new beginnings.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Beloved”
- Popularity: Rare
The fuller form of Caradog; bardic and confident.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Son of the sea”
- Popularity: #28
The most internationally exported Welsh boy name, thanks to Dylan Thomas.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Elf” or “magical”
- Popularity: Rare
Rally driver Elfyn Evans put this one on the map again.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Ellis
- Popularity: #5966
The everyday Welsh Elias; very common, very wearable.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “King, ruler”
- Popularity: #4734
Compact and stately.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Dusky, dark”
- Popularity: Rare
For a baby with dark hair or dark eyes; quietly cool.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Diminutive of Gruffudd
- Popularity: Rare
Friendly and unmistakably Welsh.
- Origin: Welsh, Germanic root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Harry
- Popularity: Rare
The double-r is a small Welsh signature.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Jacob/James
- Popularity: Rare
Pre-dating Shakespeare’s villain by centuries.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Diminutive of Ifan
- Popularity: Rare
Affectionate and warm.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Ardent lord”
- Popularity: #739
Idris Elba has carried this far beyond Wales without diluting it.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Justin
- Popularity: Rare
Underused outside Wales.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of John
- Popularity: Rare
The original behind Evan.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of John
- Popularity: #10255
Actor Ioan Gruffudd; “YO-an.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Diminutive of Iorwerth
- Popularity: Rare
Cheerful and bardic.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh spelling of Jack
- Popularity: #7416
Now the most popular boy name in Wales most years.
- Origin: Welsh, Germanic root
- Meaning: Welsh spelling of Lewis
- Popularity: Rare
The y makes it Welsh.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Lion”
- Popularity: Rare
Also short for Llewelyn; small, fierce, easily worn.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Maximus
- Popularity: #3560
Increasingly popular for boys born in the 2020s.
- Origin: Welsh, Irish root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Ossian
- Popularity: Rare
A bardic crossover name, popular with modern Welsh parents.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Ardor”
- Popularity: #354
The classic. Pronounced “Reece.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Reddish, ruddy”
- Popularity: #4659
Singer Rhydian Roberts; a strong, distinctive choice.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of John
- Popularity: #3668
Pronounced “shon.”
- Origin: Welsh, Greek root
- Meaning: Welsh form of George
- Popularity: Rare
Lesser-known but lovely.
- Origin: Welsh, Aramaic root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Thomas
- Popularity: Rare
The o is the giveaway.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Welsh form of Tristan
- Popularity: #4853
The Welsh original of a globally popular name.
Rare and Unexpected Welsh Names for the Adventurous
For parents who want something genuinely uncommon — names that won’t repeat in any classroom but that come from real Welsh tradition.
- Origin: Welsh, Hebrew root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Adam
- Popularity: #9531
Soft and surprisingly fresh.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Dear, beloved”
- Popularity: Rare
A surname turned first name; affectionate and rare.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Raven”
- Popularity: #11099
Three letters of pure mythology.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Battle”
- Popularity: #11002
Crisp, modern, near-unknown.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Strong friend”
- Popularity: Rare
Politician Cledwyn Hughes; substantial and grown-up.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Chief hero”
- Popularity: Rare
The origin of the surname Kendrick.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Genuine and blessed”
- Popularity: Rare
Quiet and dignified.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Pure” or “of God”
- Popularity: Rare
Rare even in Wales.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Anvil”
- Popularity: Rare
A medieval name with a craftsman’s solidity.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From an early Welsh saint’s name
- Popularity: Rare
For parents who want something truly singular.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From a Welsh village name
- Popularity: Rare
Place-name-as-first-name in the modern fashion.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Old”
- Popularity: Rare
Cyclist Geraint Thomas; warm and accessible.
- Origin: Welsh, Germanic root
- Meaning: Welsh form of William
- Popularity: Rare
Pronounced “GWILL-im.”
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Diminutive of Hywel
- Popularity: Rare
Soft and increasingly rare.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Lord”
- Popularity: Rare
A 7th-century saint with a quiet name.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Variant of Iestyn
- Popularity: Rare
The minimalist spelling.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Grey”
- Popularity: #1766
Originally a nickname for grey-haired men; now classic.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Princely hound”
- Popularity: Rare
Long and lordly.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From a Welsh river
- Popularity: Rare
Dylan Thomas’s middle name; bardic in the deepest sense.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Bear”
- Popularity: Rare
The shortest mythological name possible.
- Origin: Welsh, disputed origin
- Meaning: “Marrow of a hill” or “famous friend”
- Popularity: #13538
A 9th-century king of Gwynedd.
- Origin: Welsh, Latin root
- Meaning: Welsh form of Maurice
- Popularity: Rare
Bardic and uncommon.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Sea-born”
- Popularity: Rare
A warrior in Y Gododdin; salt-edged.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Variant of Aneirin
- Popularity: Rare
Stripped down to its rarest form.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: Of obscure Welsh origin
- Popularity: Rare
Genuinely vanishing; for the truly committed.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Henry’s son” or “head”
- Popularity: Rare
Welsh martyr John Penry; crisp and unusual.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Sun-born”
- Popularity: Rare
An 11th-century bishop and scholar; luminous.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “End of the hill”
- Popularity: Rare
For a baby born at the edge of something new.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “High-browed, proud”
- Popularity: Rare
A confident, ancient sound.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: From a Welsh village name
- Popularity: Rare
Place-name with hidden meaning.
- Origin: Welsh
- Meaning: “Gentle, kind”
- Popularity: Rare
Used for both genders; quietly tender.
How to Choose a Name From This List
Start by saying your favorites out loud, not just reading them. Welsh names live in the mouth. Some that look intimidating on paper (Gwilym, Iestyn, Llewelyn) feel completely natural once you’ve said them ten times. Others that look simple (Cai, Llyr, Bran) carry more weight than you’d expect when you actually call a person by them.
Think about how the name will travel. If you live outside Wales, names like Owen, Bryn, Dylan, Rhys, Morgan, and Idris have crossed the border long since and won’t need explaining. Names like Gruffudd, Cadwgan, or Llywarch will need a small pronunciation conversation every time, and that’s a real decision to make peacefully — not as a deterrent, but eyes open.
Consider pairing a Welsh first name with a non-Welsh middle, or vice versa. Many modern Welsh families do exactly this: Rhys Alexander, Theodore Bryn, Ifan Christopher. It honors heritage without making the name a constant introduction.
Finally, look up the story behind the name you’re drawn to. Welsh names tend to come attached to a person — a 6th-century saint, a Mabinogion shape-shifter, a bard who memorized the genealogy of every king for ten generations. Reading even one paragraph about your namesake usually clarifies whether the name truly fits. If the story makes you smile or feel quieted in a good way, that’s a strong signal.
Name Art for Your Favorite
Love a name from this list? MinimalistMama offers custom Name Art prints — personalized, minimalist nursery art with the name you choose, designed to match your aesthetic. A perfect gift for baby showers or to hang above the crib.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I actually pronounce the Welsh double-L (Ll)?
Place your tongue where you’d start to say “L,” then blow air out the sides of your mouth instead of voicing it. It’s a soft hissing sound, not a hard consonant. Most non-Welsh speakers approximate it as a soft “kl” or “thl” — Llewelyn becomes “Kloo-EL-in” or “Thloo-EL-in.” Welsh speakers are generally very forgiving of close approximations.
Are Welsh and Irish names interchangeable?
No — they share Celtic roots but diverged around 1,500 years ago. Welsh (along with Cornish and Breton) is a Brythonic Celtic language; Irish (along with Scottish Gaelic and Manx) is Goidelic. The sound systems and spelling conventions are quite different. A name like Owain is unmistakably Welsh; Eoin is unmistakably Irish, even though both ultimately come from similar roots.
Will my child get teased for a Welsh name outside of Wales?
Names like Owen, Bryn, Dylan, Rhys, Morgan, and Idris are widely worn internationally now and rarely register as unusual. More distinctive names like Gwilym or Cadwgan will require a pronunciation conversation, but many families find that gives the name a story and a sense of intentionality. Kids tend to be teased far more about generic things than the origin of their name.
What’s the Mabinogion, and should I read it before naming my baby after a character?
The Mabinogion is a collection of eleven medieval Welsh tales written down in the 12th–13th centuries but rooted in much older oral tradition. Sioned Davies’s 2007 Oxford World’s Classics translation is the standard modern version. It’s worth at least skimming the Four Branches if you’re considering Pwyll, Pryderi, Rhiannon, Bran, Manawydan, Math, Gwydion, Lleu, or Branwen — the stories are short, strange, and unforgettable.
Are there Welsh names that work as a middle name only?
Wyn, Bryn, Llyr, Hedd, Glyn, and Rhys all make exceptional middle names because they’re single-syllable and pair cleanly with longer first names. Welsh middle names are also a popular way to honor heritage when a parent wants the first name to be from a different naming tradition — Henry Bryn, Sophia Wyn, James Rhys.
What’s the difference between Owain and Owen?
Owain is the Welsh-language spelling and is pronounced “OH-wine” (rhyming with “wine”). Owen is the anglicized spelling and is pronounced “OH-en” (two clear syllables). They share the same ultimate origin — the Latin name Eugenius, meaning “well-born” — but feel quite distinct in use. Welsh-speaking families overwhelmingly choose Owain; bilingual or English-speaking families more often pick Owen.
Are any of these names trending up right now?
Yes — within Wales itself, Jac, Harri, Tomos, Osian, Caio, Macsen, and Cai have climbed steadily through the 2020s. Internationally, Rhys, Owen, Dylan, Bryn, and Idris are the most exported. Names from the Mabinogion (Lleu, Pryderi, Bran, Gwydion) remain genuinely rare even in Wales, which is part of their appeal for parents looking for something distinctive.
Final Thoughts
There’s something steadying about choosing a name that has been spoken for a thousand years, carried by bards and farmers and kings, pronounced exactly the same way in the same green valleys. You don’t have to be Welsh to love these names — you only have to be drawn to something that has weight and music and a story behind it. Whichever one you choose, you’re picking a name with deep roots and a clear voice. May the right one find you.
Read next;
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