That’s a lovely meaning, and you have a good choice of names - fun!
D”l - meadow (Kind of like door with an L on the end instead of an r!) - I quite like this one as an unusual middle choice. Then again, I’m pronouncing it (no doubt incorrectly) less like ‘door’ and more like ‘doll’, and am hence dreaming about a little girl named [name]Dolly[/name], a nickname I’ve recently, and unexpectedly, started crushing on. Although, when I try pronouncing it as you describe, I still like it.
Gwern - meadow - If I’m honest, this feels a little like [name]Gwen[/name]'s less glamorous sister. That said, this is probably because it’s very unfamiliar, both the whole name and the sounds within it. Ask me again in a couple of weeks, and I might well love it; that tends to happen with crazy, old, forgotten British names like this (I’m a big fan of [name]Morag[/name]).
[name]Elen[/name]/[name]Elin[/name]/[name]Elinor[/name] - bright shining one - [name]Elinor[/name] and both her English and shortened variants, are very popular. But she’s also elegant and flows off the tongue, so I still think she’d make a great middle.
[name]Nia[/name] - brightness (nee-uh) - pretty, short and down to earth, but still feminine, in the same sort of style as [name]Mira[/name]. Something about [name]Nia[/name] just strikes me as quite unexciting, even plain, but there’s certainly nothing wrong with the name, and it’s just my personal opinion.
[name]Eirian[/name] - shining, bright (AY-ree-an) - Gosh, this one looks pretty written down! Unfortunately, said aloud it might verge on sounding like ‘aryan’ (depending on how well I am pronouncing it). The sound is actually lovely, though, light but grounded by that final N - I guess it hinges on how much that would bother you. For what it’s worth, it’s a word with unpleasant connotations, but it also seems quite a trivial objection to a name which is clearly not actually [name]Aryan[/name] (or, you know, [name]Adolf[/name]. Or Master [name]Race[/name].)
Eirianwen - bright, shining (AY-ree-an-wen) - I’m seeing a Welsh-style Rapunzel … Not a bad thing! I can’t tell if I like the more streamlined [name]Eirian[/name] better or not; this one would certainly eliminate the ‘aryan’ problems I droned on about above!
Aranwen - fair, holy, shining - pretty cool, but not as lovely as Eirianwen, in my opinion. This might be because it, totally unfairly, reminds me of spiders (what’s that giant one in the [name]Harry[/name] [name]Potter[/name] series called? [name]Aragon[/name]? I’m guessing that’s why, coupled with ‘arachnid’.)
Seiriol - shining bright one ([name]SAY[/name]-ree-ol) - Beautiful, but also similar in sound to ‘cereal’. Hmm … dilemma.
[name]Gwen[/name] - shining, holy - A classic, and she also slots quite easy into combinations. Elegant and feminine, but by no means fussy. Perhaps she isn’t quite as fair-maiden-of-myth as some of your other Welsh choices, but then again they could always be used for another daughter.
Siwan - bright as the sun (SHOO-an) - I quite like this one, although I think some of your other choices are a little more exciting. More Welsh girl next door than Welsh Rapunzel :lol:
[name]Non[/name] Welsh names:
[name]Lee[/name]/[name]Lea[/name]/[name]Ingrid[/name] - meadow - [name]Lee[/name] is a little run of the mill in my opinion, especially as a middle, and also quite masculine. However, [name]Lea[/name] is simple, pretty choice and [name]Ingrid[/name] is intresting, very cool, and remarkably feminine given the number of hard consonant sounds.
[name]Phoebe[/name]/[name]Elena[/name]/[name]Helena[/name]/[name]Zahra[/name]/[name]Eleonora[/name]/[name]Helen[/name]/Roshan/[name]Roxana[/name]/[name]Niamh[/name] - “bright shining” - I know you love [name]Phoebe[/name], and I think it’s great, too. Sweet, fun, but unfortunately popular, she’d be a good middle. [name]Elena[/name] and [name]Eleonora[/name] are as lovely as [name]Elinor[/name], [name]Helena[/name] is elegant and [name]Helen[/name] is simple and purposeful - in a very good way. [name]Niamh[/name] is an accessible Irish choice, and just stunning in her simplicity. [name]Roxana[/name] doesn’t have to wear that dress … no, I’m joking, I love the name, spunky but with the classic [name]Anna[/name] association. The only ones I’m not as keen on are [name]Zahra[/name], which just feels a little boring to me (I feel like it’s got a Z, it should be a bit more fun!) and Roshan, for the same reason, and that is just personal taste and not an actual problem with the names. [name]Just[/name] make sure that you pick on how much you love the name, not just the fact that it has the right meaning!
On a side note, have you considered [name]Meadow[/name] itself? I think we’ve talked about it before, actually, so apologies if I’m just repeating a previous conversation, but I do love an unusual word name in the middle. Plus, its similarity to [name]Margot[/name] makes it accessible, while some similar nature names can sound a bit hippy-in-a-not-great-way.
I’m a big fan of Slavic languages, and think Louka and L”ka would both be pronounced like the boys’ name [name]Luca[/name], LOO-ka. They’re pretty but spunky, and I think both would be good choices. You might find someone thinks Louka is a yooneek spelling of [name]Luca[/name], but you know it isn’t so that’s really all that matters. I’m afraid I can’t help on Livada - my instinct would be [name]LIV[/name]-a-da, rather than liv-[name]AH[/name]-da, but I’m not sure. As for [name]Prairie[/name], it is pronounced the same as the English word, but in a French accent - something like PRAY-ree - but it makes me think of a dusty expanse rather than lush green grass, so it wouldn’t be my personal choice.
[name]How[/name] about (I think I remember your surname being a two syllable M name [not sure if you’d want me to mention it online], so I’ve attempted to pick combinations which I think flow nicely with that) :
[name]Claudia[/name] [name]Phoebe[/name] Dol - This was a dilemma, as I wanted to put [name]Phoebe[/name] in there but she sounds a little off right next to your surname to me, almost like you have to rush too much when you say it. Then I didn’t want the double -N ending of Gwern next to your surname, so I went for Dol (sorry, I’m unable to type accents on this computer), but pronouncing Dol like ‘doll’, I’m concerned it borders on cutesy when paired with [name]Phoebe[/name].
[name]Claudia[/name] [name]Gwen[/name] [name]Eleonora[/name] - I really love the short [name]Gwen[/name] next to the very feminine [name]Eleonora[/name]. Overall, I think this has the best flow with your surname of all of my proposed combinations.
[name]Claudia[/name] [name]Eirian[/name] Louka - I almost had this combination as [name]Claudia[/name] [name]Niamh[/name] [name]Eirian[/name], until I realised I’d left out the ‘meadow’ part! It’s a pity, those two sounded great together, but I also adore this combination. It’s so interesting, with all the different name origins, and beautiful but also very grown up.
[name]Claudia[/name] Dol Eirianwen - Yes, two Welsh middles, but I felt like a one-syllable choice was needed and nothing else fit the bill!
[name]Auburn[/name]
[name]EDIT[/name]: Oh, I didn’t see the post about [name]Poppy[/name] - I think [name]Claudia[/name] Eirianwen [name]Poppy[/name] would be perfect, probably preferable to the Eirianwen combination above. [name]Long[/name] and elegant Eirianwen, coupled with sweet and pretty [name]Poppy[/name] - just wonderful, especially with [name]Claudia[/name] in front.