As I’ve probably said countless times on here, my paternal grandfather is originally from [name]Wales[/name], and as such I have found some glorious names in my family tree.
I was wondering if any of you could help me with the pronunciation of these names:
Cadwallader
[name]Ceridwen[/name] (my ancestor’s was spelled as Keridwen)
Myrddian
There’s also a Bradwyn, but I’m presuming that’s pronounced as spelled!
I can’t ask my grandfather, because by time he was born, the family had become quite Anglicized, both in terms of language and names. [name]Cadwallader[/name] (my grandpa’s grandfather) was the last fluent Welsh-speaking family member and sadly he died before my grandpa was born. The little Welsh my grandpa did know, both in terms of vocabulary and pronunciation, has pretty much been erased by living in the US for over 60 years.
I’m not welsh, but [name]Ceridwen[/name] is on my short list for my baby, and from what I gather it’s pronounced either KAIR-idwen or ke-RID-wen. My welsh friend says the former, the latter is what I’ve seen in my baby name books.
I have a Welsh housemate with a cousin called [name]Ceridwen[/name] and she says it like [name]Kerry[/name]-dwen, with the dwen part rhyming with [name]Gwen[/name].
I also know that the dd makes a ‘th’ sort of sound so Myrddian is probably something like Mirth-ee-an/Meerth-ee-an.
I’m a native Welsh speaker, and [name]Ceridwen[/name] is pronounced as ‘Ker-EED-wen’, so emphasis is on the ‘id’ in the name. The ‘e’ in Welsh is always said - it’s never cut off or shortened like in English. So ‘e’ should always sound like the ‘e’ in ‘ten’ ‘bet’ or ‘let’.
‘i’ always sounds like the sharp ‘ee’ in ‘meet’ ‘neat’ or the sound in ‘seat’.
The reason why your friend probably got the pronunciation wrong, is because she’s probably not a native Welsh speaker. I’ve heard many Welsh people (especially in the south), butcher Welsh place names in pronunciation because the place names are Welsh, but they don’t speak it.
Having a Welsh accent when you speak English doesn’t mean anything either. It doesn’t make them any better at pronouncing Welsh words because speaking English requires you to use totally different parts of the mouth. That’s why Welsh people (who don’t speak Welsh), often sound like English people when they try to say Welsh words. What I mean is, it doesn’t give them an advantage over English people when they try to learn Welsh. Strange but true.
…and by the way, I like your [name]Brian[/name] Froud profile pic I love that painting.
I can’t believe I have only just seen this post! As a native Welsh speaker as well, this is also how I pronounce the name. My son is actually friends with a little [name]Ceridwen[/name] and he is just so adorable!
Oh, thanks, sweetie. My friend is actually from Anglesey, he speaks welsh. But ker-EED-wen is the prettiest, that’s how I’ll pronounce it if i name my daughter [name]Ceridwen[/name]!
I love that painting.