Welsh Names Archives

Are you looking for some Welsh names for your new puppy. In this article we give you a selection of inspiration.

@jonjenkins_ig via Twenty20

We give you the name, whether it was originally male or female and what is the meaning.

List of names

Name	Male or female	Meaning
ADERYN	FEMALE	Means “bird” in Welsh
AERON	FEMALE / MALE	River Aeron in Wales, Aeron in Welsh meant: “queen of brightness”
AFON	FEMALE / MALE	Means “river” in Welsh.
ALED	MALE	mall river near Conwy County Borough
ALIS	FEMALE	Welsh form of ALICE
ALUN	MALE	Welsh form of ALAN.
ANDRAS	MALE	Welsh variant of ANDREAS.
ANWEN	FEMALE	Means “very beautiful” in Welsh
BETHAN	FEMALE	Welsh shortened version of ELIZABETH.
BETRYS	FEMALE	Welsh form of BEATRICE.
BERWYN	MALE	the Berwyn range of mountains in northeast Wales
BRONWEN	FEMALE	Welsh bron “breast” and -wen, gwen “fair””white”
BRYN	FEMALE / MALE	Means “hill, mound” in Welsh.
CADELL	MALE	Various Welsh kings and princes
CADFAEL	MALE	Comes from Welsh cad “battle” and mael “prince”.
CADFAN	MALE	Comes from Welsh cad “battle” and ban “peak”. Saint Cadfan, sometimes Anglicized as Gideon, was the 6th century founder-abbot of Tywyn and Bardsey, both in Gwynedd, Wales
CADOC	MALE	Derived from Welsh cad meaning “battle”. Saint Cadoc or Cadog was a 5th–6th-century Abbot of Llancarfan, near Cowbridge in Glamorganshire, Wales
CARYS	FEMALE	Derived from Welsh caru meaning “love”
CATRIN	FEMALE	Welsh form of KATHERINE
CEFIN	MALE	Welsh form of KEVIN
CELYN	MALE	Means “holly” in Welsh. Also Llyn Celyn, large reservoir in the valley of the River Tryweryn in North Wales
COLWYN	MALE	Colwyn Bay is a town, community and seaside resort in Conwy County Borough on the north coast of Wales overlooking the Irish Sea
CRYSTIN	FEMALE	Welsh form of CHRISTINE.
DAFYDD	MALE	Welsh form of DAVID. Dafydd ap Gruffydd was Prince of Wales from 11 December 1282 until his execution on 3 October 1283 by King Edward I of England. He was the last independent ruler of Wales
DAI	MALE	a diminutive form of Dafydd (David). Several famous sportsman have had this name.
DELYTH	FEMALE	meaning “pretty and blessed”
DEWEY	MALE	Welsh form of DAVID.
DILWYN	MALE	Derived from the Welsh element dilys “genuine” combined with gwyn “white, fair, blessed”.
DILYS	FEMALE	Means “genuine” in Welsh.
DYLAN	MALE	Meaning “son of the sea”, “son of the wave”, or “born from the ocean”. Dylan ail Don represents darkness while his twin brother Lleu Llaw Gyffes represents light. But the more common interpretation is that Dylan is a Welsh sea-god.
EFA	FEMALE	Welsh form of EVA.
EIRA	FEMALE	Means “snow” in Welsh.
EIRIAN	FEMALE / MALE	Means “bright, beautiful” in Welsh.
ELAIN	FEMALE	Means “fawn” in Welsh.
ELEN	FEMALE	Saint Elen is traditionally considered a saint in the Welsh Church; she is known as Saint Helen of Caernarfon
ELERI	FEMALE	Eleri, daughter of Brychan Brycheiniog, the Welsh, 5th-century king
EMLYN	MALE	one of the seven cantrefi of Dyfed, an ancient district of Wales, which became part of Deheubarth in around 950
EMRYS	MALE	Welsh form of AMBROSE.
EMYR	MALE	Means “king, lord” in Welsh.
ENFYS	FEMALE / MALE	Means “rainbow” in Welsh. Enfys Nest was a human female resistance fighter in Star Wars
ENID	FEMALE	The origin is Middle Welsh eneit, meaning “spirit, life”. Lots of famous references such as Enid Blyton who was a British children's writer
EVAN	MALE	Anglicized form of Iefan, a Welsh form of JOHN.
FFION	FEMALE	means “purple foxglove” in Welsh.
GAENOR	FEMALE	Welsh variant of GAYNOR.
GARETH	MALE	Lots of references. Sir Gareth is a Knight of the Round Table in Arthurian legend, Gareth Bale the footballer
GERAINT	MALE	a character from Welsh folklore and Arthurian legend. He was a king of Dumnonia and a valiant warrior
GERALLT	MALE	Welsh form of GERALD.
GETHIN	MALE	Means “dark-skinned, swarthy” in Welsh.
GLADYS	FEMALE	from the Welsh name Gwladus or Gwladys, which bears the meaning of royalty (princess)
GLAW	FEMALE / MALE	Means “rain” in Welsh.
GLENDA	FEMALE	glân “pure, clean” and da “good”.
GLENYS	FEMALE	a Welsh female given name meaning “clean, holy”
GLYN	MALE	Means “valley” in Welsh.
GRWN	MALE	Means “ridge” in Welsh.
GWYN	MALE	given names or surnames meaning “white” or/and “blessed” in Welsh
HAF	FEMALE	Means “summer” in Welsh.
HARRI	MALE	Welsh form of HARRY.
HAUL	MALE	Means “sun” in Welsh.
HEFIN	MALE	Means “summer” in Welsh.
HELEDD	FEMALE	Canu Heledd are a collection of early Welsh englyn-poems
HUW	MALE	Welsh form of HUGH.
HYWEL	MALE	Hywel ap Rhodri Molwynog, 9th-century king of Gwynedd
IAGO	MALE	a form of the given name Jacob, a fictional character in Shakespeare's Othello
IDRIS	MALE	“Ardent lord”, from udd (lord, prince) + ris (ardent, enthusiastic, impulsive). Idris Elba is a good example
IFAN	MALE	Welsh form of JOHN.
ITHEL	MALE	Ithel or Idwal ap Morgan was a king of Gwent and Glywysing in southeastern Wales
IVOR	MALE	derived from Old Norse Ívarr, adopted in Wales in the spelling Ifor.
IWAN	MALE	Welsh form of JOHN.
LOWRI	FEMALE	Welsh form of LAURA.
LUC	MALE	Welsh form of Lucas
MABON	MALE	Mabon ap Modron is a prominent figure from Welsh literature and mythology, the son of Modron and a member of Arthur's war band.
MABYN	FEMALE	a medieval Cornish saint. According to local Cornish tradition she was one of the many children of Brychan, king of Brycheiniog in Wales in the 5th century.
MACSEN	MALE	Welsh form of MAXIMUS.
MADOC	MALE	according to folklore, a Welsh prince who sailed to America in 1170
MAIR	FEMALE	Welsh form of MARY.
MALLT	FEMALE	Welsh form of MAUD.
MARED	FEMALE	Welsh form of MARGARET.
MEGAN	FEMALE	Welsh diminutive of MARGARET.
MEICAL	MALE	Welsh form of MICHAEL.
MEINIR	FEMALE	Means “maiden” in Welsh.
MEREDITH	FEMALE / MALE	the name was usually rendered as Morgetuid or Margetiud.The meaning of the first element, Mere, is unclear although some scholars have translated it as “great” or “splendid”.The final element of iudd has the meaning of lord
MOSTYN	MALE	a village and community in Flintshire, Wales,
NERYS	FEMALE
NESTA	FEMALE	Welsh diminutive of AGNES.
OLWEN	FEMALE	is the daughter of the giant Ysbaddaden and cousin of Goreu. She is the heroine of the story Culhwch and Olwen in the Mabinogion
OWAIN	MALE	Owain Glyndŵr was a Welsh leader who instigated an unsuccessful war of independence with the aim of ending English rule in Wales during the Late Middle Ages
OWEN	MALE	Anglicized form of OWAIN.
OWENA	FEMALE	Female version of OWEN
PADRIG	MALE	Welsh form of PATRICK
PEDR	MALE	Welsh form of PETER.
REECE	MALE	Anglicized form of RHYS.
RHIAN	FEMALE	the common Welsh word for “maiden”
RHIANNON	FEMALE	a major figure in the Mabinogi, the medieval Welsh story collection. She appears mainly in the First Branch of the Mabinogi, and again in the Third Branch. Also a Fleetwood Mac song
RHISIART	MALE	Welsh form of RICHARD.
RHODRI	MALE	Rhodri the Great succeeded his father, Merfyn Frych, as King of Gwynedd in 844
RHOSYN	FEMALE	Means “rose” in Welsh.
RHYS	MALE	a popular Welsh given name (usually male), which is famous in Welsh history and which is also used as a surname. It originates from Deheubarth, an old region of South West Wales
SEREN	FEMALE	Means “star” in Welsh.
SIÂN	FEMALE	Welsh form of JEANNE.
SIARL	MALE	Welsh form of CHARLES.
SIÔN	MALE	Welsh form of JOHN
SIONED	FEMALE	Welsh form of JANET.
TEGAN	MALE	a diminutive of the Welsh word teg (“fair”) and means “darling,” “loved one,” or “favourite,” and is the normal Welsh word for “toy.
TESNI	FEMALE	Means “warmth from the sun” in Welsh
TIWLIP	FEMALE	Means “tulip” in Welsh.
TREVOR	MALE	the Welsh tre(f), meaning “homestead”, or “settlement” and a form of mawr, meaning “large, big”
YORATH	MALE	Anglicized form of IORWERTH.

You can also get inspiration from generic welsh words, here are some examples

Welsh	English
afon	river
allt	hillside, wood
bach	little
bryn	hill
caer	fort, stronghold
capel	chapel
cefn	ridge
craig	rock
croes	cross, crossroads
crug	hillock
dinas	city
dol	meadow
garth	enclosure, garden, ridge
glan	bank of river or lake
glyn	deep valley
gwaun	moorland
hafod	summer farmstead
hendre	winter farmstead
llannerch	clearing
llyn	lake
maen	stone
mawr	big
melin	mill
merthyr	martyrium
moel	bare hill
môr	sea
morfa	salt marsh
ogof	cave
pentre	homestead, village
plas	hall, mansion
pont	bridge
porth	harbour, gateway
pwll	pool
rhaeadr	waterfall
rhos	moor, promontory
rhyd	ford
tafarn	inn, tavern
traeth	beach
tref	village, town

How about some Welsh towns, here is a few examples

Flint , Kenfig, Brecon, bangor, Bala, Neath, Nefyn, Rhyl, Tenby and Risca

Welsh Names

Welsh Names For Your Cat

List of names