The Art of Naming

The last piece in this week's World-Wide Wednesday segment on Welsh names is the lovely girl name Carys. Pronounced ka-RISS or KAH-ris in Wales and sometimes CARE-iss in the US, it comes from the Welsh word caru which means "love". In the stream of time as far as names go, Carys is actually somewhat modern. It has only been in use since the middle of the 20th century in Wales. The most recent stats I can find rank the name at #239 in England/Wales. Carys has only been used in the US since 1991. It never received more than 16 births in a year until it suddenly got a boost in 2003 with 106 births. The cause of this increase is most likely because of Welsh-born actress Catherine Zeta-Jones and her husband Michael Douglas choosing the name for their daughter in 2003. Since 2003, the name has consistently continued to receive at least a hundred births per year but it hasn't had more than 200. In 2013, there were 122 girls given the name for a ranking of #169

Beaumaris Castle Anglesey Wales United Kingdom Welsh baby names are very interesting. Traditional names have their own rules that may make the names complicated to pronounce for those who are not familiar with them. I've found a website that studies Welsh names from medieval times and breaks down specific elements within the names. It was actually a bit over my head but I definitely want to share those links if you're interested in more of the etymology:   Link #1  | Link #2   |  Link #3 Let's start with a bit of information about surnames in Wales. From the 15th century onward, families adopted a fixed family name. Before that, they used a patronymic naming system in which a "surname" was derived from the child's father's name. This kind of naming was especially telling for the male line throughout the generations. Typically, a person's baptismal name would be linked to their father's baptismal name by the letters ap or ab (son of) for a b

In this month's World-Wide Wednesday, we'll be visiting Wales and examining their baby naming traditions! To kick things off, let's take a look at a Welsh boy name: Rhys. Rhys is pronounced like Reese and is the name that Reese and Reece spring from. Many girls are given these variations but it is originally a masculine name. In fact, there have been several Welsh rulers named Rhys. In Welsh, the name is said to mean "enthusiasm" or "ardor" which is a great, positive meaning to have in a name! In Wales, the name has quite a bit of history as well as modern usage. It ranks in the Top 100 in England/Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland making it a popular choice for boys! However, in the US, Rhys isn't quite as popular. It has definitely been gaining some attention though. Rhys was first used in 1929, then 1941. It wasn't until 1946 that it gained some more regular usage. Very slowly it began to gain favor with parents. In 2004, R