This woman reached out to a community of name nerds—asking for their first impression of the Welsh name, ‘Eira.’ She assumes that while the Welsh people might pronounce it the right way, she is mainly concerned with others Welsh Pronunciation for the given name.  

“While attempting to change my name, Eira is at the top of my list. It’s Welsh for snow. But despite having grown up learning Welsh in school and stuff, I have still struggled to figure out how the name ‘Eira’ is pronounced.”

“However, according to a bloke on YouTube, it’s pronounced as Eye-ra but I can see how it can be confusing to some. For instance, if I’m in Starbucks or something, they’re gonna write Ira or if I’m in class and they’re reading my name, they’re gonna be unbelievably confused, you know?”

“And although I’m sure that after a while they’d get used to it. But how much of an issue will it cause? If you saw that spelling how would you say it and if you heard me say my name how would you think I’d be spelling it?”

Here’s how readers are responding to her question:

“I would think Eye-ra. Like Eileen.”

“I read it as Ear-ah”🥴

“Forgive my American ears, but that sounds exactly like eye-ra to me. How would you write out the way it’s pronounced? Is there a sound in Welsh I’m not hearing?”

“I think I hear a very slight uh sound, like EYE-uh-ra. But hardly noticeable in speech.”

“The diphthong ei is closer to the sound in the word eight than to eye.”

“Eight and ate sound the same to me. It is eye-ra but you kind of roll the r in the middle.”

“It’s pronounced as Eye- Rah in other cultures but not in Welsh. I’d read it as Eye-rah and love the name!”

“I showed this to my mom and she pronounced it like ear-rah.”

“Eh-rah Or Air-rah.”

“I thought Eye-rah from the moment I saw it. I’m South African so I have no idea of Welsh pronunciation.”

“I’d pronounce it as Eye-ra, but they’ll definitely spell it as Ira at Starbucks lol.”

“I would say Ay-ra (rhymes with hay), no knowledge of Welsh pronunciation.”

“It looks like it should be said Ay-ruh.”

“Air-uh.”

“AY-ra, ‘ay’ rhyming with ‘bay’.”

Some members, who were somewhat equipped with Welsh language, agreed that the name is difficult to pronounce, even for the Welsh community. 

“I will say that my sister has constant trouble with people mispronouncing her name (which is almost identical to Eira but it has another syllable as a prefix) and we live in Wales. I think people really struggle with the ‘ei-‘ part. It’s a lovely name, though!”

“This happens to be one of the only Welsh names that I’m slightly familiar with, as it was on my list of girl names for a while.

I would pronounce it as ‘Eye-ruh’ though from my research I believe it is also commonly pronounced in Welsh as ‘Ay-ruh’ (I could be wrong on that though as it was a few years ago when I looked it up).”

Suggest your experience with Welsh names that others would pronounce as or with a different accent. Shoot us an email [email protected]

More from Welsh Histories

Welsh Histories is a Welsh history celebrating platform which looks to promote all aspects of Welsh history. Though we focus predominantly on native Welsh history, we do also share the non-native aspects from time to time. You can follow us on Facebook; Instagram or Twitter for more. A reader? We also have our very own Welsh Histories Shop where we sell our Welsh Histories  Magazine. Diolch yn fawr iawn and keep enjoying Welsh Histories.

Sally George

Sally is a proud wife of a Welshman, editor & writer of Welsh Histories. She’s all about stories—that shout ‘anything Welsh.’ Drop her an email if you have an advice, insight, experience, or a story to share.