Carys

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 #1695. This name could also be spelled Cerys but that spelling is even less used, only on record since 1998 and never receiving more than 13 births in one year.

It has probably not gained more popularity in the US since it is a Welsh name with a not-so-common pronunciation. It will probably remain under the radar and dance in the #1000-#1500 range unless something else happens to boost it again. That means its a great, unusual choice if you're looking for something different.

Revision:  Carys ranked at #2788 in the US for a total of 61 births for 2016. Which means my prediction above was off. The name actually declined even more from 2013 to 2016. This still makes it a great option for parents who want a rare name.

What do you think of Carys? Here are some naming pairing ideas I came up with:

Sibling Name Ideas:
Sisters: Anwen, Bronwyn, Imogen, Lydia, Rhiannon, Saoirse, Tegan
Brothers: Dylan, Flynn, Gareth, Graeme, Owen, Rhett, Vaughn

Middle Name Ideas:
Carys Amelia
Carys Elizabeth
Carys Gwendolen
Carys Juniper
Carys Philippa

As a Middle Name:
Alexandra Carys
Evangeline Carys
Genevieve Carys
Madeline Carys
Tabitha Carys

Original post: 7/25/14
Revision: 5/15/17

World-Wide Wednesday: Welsh Baby Names

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 boy, and ferch (daughter of) for a girl. As an example, Evan son of Thomas would be known as Evan ap Thomas.

This naming method gave rise to boys whose surnames could be extremely long to incorporate the names of their fathers and grandfathers for several generations. For example, it was common to have a name that looked like this: Llewelyn ap Dafydd ab Ieuan ap Griffith ap Meredith. This was in place by Welsh law so that it was obvious to see how people descended from which ancestors. Later, these laws were abolished in the Middle Ages and replaced by a fixed family surname system that was easier to keep track of. However, there was still an element of patronymic names being used in varous forms until the early 19th century and especially in rural areas. Areas with strong English influence and wealth were the first the drop the patronymics system.

As this surname transition occurred, the new fixed surnames were morphed from the old system. For example, the surname Powell came from ap Hywel and Bowen came from ab Owen. Price comes from ap Rhys and Pritchard comes from ap Richard. The ap and ab were eventually dropped altogether in favor of simply adding an S to the end of a name like Jones, Roberts or Edwards. This was influenced by the English. It is also common that people with the same surname in an area are completely unrelated, having simply chosen the same surname. Jones, Williams and Thomas are among the most prevalent surnames. A survey estimated that about 9/10ths of the Welsh population have a total of just one hundred surnames.  Source.

As for Welsh first names, they are on their own level. If you were to look up Welsh names and browse a list of them, you'll noticed that most of then end with -yn, -on, -en, or -in. There are many that have Y's and W's in them as well.  Here are some examples of traditional Welsh boy names that may be unfamiliar to the non-Welsh:

Boys:                                                       Alwyn Arwel Bedwyr Bleddyn Braith Brynmor Cadfael Cadoc Cadwalader Caerwyn Caradoc Cledwyn Dafydd (David) Deiniol Delwyn Drystan Einion Eirian Emlyn Emrys (Ambrose) Ffransis Gawain Gethin Glyndwr Gruffudd Gwillym (William) Gwythyr (Victor)

Heddwyn Heulog Hywel Iago (Jacob) Idris Ieuan (John) Islwyn Llewellyn Macsen (Maximus) Madog Maredudd (Meredith) Meurig (Maurice) Neifion (Neptune) Owain (Eugene) Padrig (Patrick) Pedr (Peter) Rheinallt (Reynold) Rhisiart (Richard) Rhydderch Sawyl (Samuel) Siarl (Charles) Sieffre (Geoffrey) Siorus (George) Talfryn Tomos (Thomas) Urien Wynfor Yorath

And here are some examples of girl names with a Welsh origin:

Aderyn                                                   Aeronwen Afanen Alis (Alice) Anwen Bethan (Elizabeth) Betrys (Beatrice) Blodeuwedd Briallen Bronwen Carys Catrin (Katherine) Ceridwen Crystin (Christine) Deryn Disgleirio Efa (Eva) Eilwen Eirlys Elin (Helen) Enfys Esyllt (Isolde) Ffraid (Bridget) Gladys Glynis Gwen Gwendolen Gwyneth

Hefina Heulwen Hyledd Lleucu (Lucia) Llewella Lowri (Laura) Mair (Mary) Marged (Margaret) Megan Meinwen Morgan Morwen Myfanwy Nesta (Agnes) Nia (Niamh) Olwen Paderau Rhiannon Rhonwen Rhosyn Seren Sian (Jeanne) Sioned (Janet) Siwan (Joan) Tegan Tiwlip (Tulip) Winifred Wynne

What do you think of these Welsh names? Have you ever known someone with a name like this? Source. 

Of course, in modern day Wales, the most popular baby names tend to match up more with English tastes than with old tradition. In fact, most of the time, England/Wales are categorized together just like that. This means that most of the names being given to Welsh babies are English favorites like Harry and Amelia. 

Let me know what your thoughts are about Welsh baby names! If you're from Wales, feel free to offer some insight or more information regarding names. Note: I am not Welsh nor have I ever been to Wales, so if any of the above information is incorrect or lacking, please let me know!  Thanks for reading!

Rhys

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, Rhys made its debut appearance on the US Top 1000 chart at #940. Now it has inched its way upward to #489 in 2013 which accounts for 555 male births.  There were also 26 female births for a ranking of #5245.

This new popularity that Rhys has been experiencing could have been partially influenced by three actors, one named Jonathan Rhys Meyers, another named John Rhys-Davies, as well as a Welsh-born actor named Rhys Ifans. The name has also been used on a celebrity baby in 2009: Rhys Edward, son of Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block.

I think Rhys is a name that will continue to gain popularity with this spelling for boys. The Reese spelling is massively more popular for girls, ranking at #156 and only ranking at #602 for boys. I think the genders can share this same sound but use their own spellings. That would make it kind of unisex and kind of not and I think that's cool!

What do you think of Rhys? Or do you prefer Reese/Reece?  Here are some ideas that I came up with for potential siblings for Rhys as well as some middle name ideas:

Sibling Name Ideas:
Sisters: Avalon, Brynn, Eleri, Gwyneth, Megan, Seren, Tegan
Brothers: Dylan, Evan, Gareth, Keane, Morgan, Owen, Trevor

Middle Name Ideas:
Rhys Broderick
Rhys Donovan
Rhys Finlay
Rhys Kennedy

As a Middle Name:
Caden Rhys
Finnegan Rhys
Griffith Rhys
Sullivan Rhys

What might you pair with Rhys?