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[Facts] Avaon, Idris and Adara
How are the Welsh male names Avaon and Idris pronounced? (incl. stress)
And is the Welsh name Adara ever used for boys?
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Adara not WelshI think you may be thinking of Aderyn 'bird' or the plural form Adar 'birds'. But Adara itself is not a Welsh name, although it may be used in Wales. Dara is an Irish name often used for boys, sometimes in the forms Daragh or Darragh, but I'm not sure whether it's pronounced dahr-ah or dah-rer (long a or short a). Avaon is also not a traditional Welsh male name, although the name Afaon has some mythical reference. Have you been reading sci-fi novels?
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Well, I thought (I'm not Welsh so I'm not completely sure) that Adara is also a Welsh name (I have seen it as a name used for girls, but now my question is if it is a unisex name), meaning "cathes birds". I have seen this on quite a few sites actually.
I also found Avaon on those sites, as a Welsh male name. I have never seen the name Afaon before, only Afan or Afon.
I wasn't quite sure about your question of me reading sci-fi novels. What do you mean?
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Well, I'm not Welsh either, but I live in Wales, and I'm a postgraduate student studying medieval Celtic personal names. I keep an eye on the modern scene as well out of curiosity, and I've never come across an Adara, male or female, nor is the name listed in any modern Welsh baby name books (although Aderyn 'bird' is). I did go to school with an Adara in London (England), but she was English, and knew that her parents had chosen a Hebrew name. There are a number of sites claiming to list Welsh names - it's best only to trust those that are collated and run by Welsh speakers living in Wales (of which I believe there are none - Welsh name websites that is). Name websites tend to fall prey to the fear that they may be missing something if they do not include every name that has even only a vague suggestion of the appropriate ethnic origin. Then other sites collect from them and the whole thing goes round in an increasingly inaccurate circle...basically, don't believe anything you read on a website until you've checked it with a more reliable source :).
I substituted Afaon for Avaon because there is no v in Welsh; f represents the v sound, and ff stands for the f sound. No Welsh speaker would ever spell a Welsh name with a v. Avaon is also not a name I have ever encountered in modern Welsh usage, but the name does ring a bell - I'll have a look tomorrow and see if it turns up in my databases anywhere - I suspect it appears in the Four Branches (Welsh mythology) somewhere.
THe question about the sci-fi novels was because two of the three names you were discussing were a little odd (more nearly Welsh than actually Welsh), and the sort of name that turns up in pseudo-Celtic sci-fi, but as you picked up the names from websites, it's more likely that I should be asking the creators of the websites about their reading tastes.
I'm sorry for my short reply before; I assumed you knew more about Welsh things...
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I don't think that Adara is Welsh.. although I do have a Celtic background. My name i believe is Greek in origin. I am the only Adara I know, but I do not live in England or even Europe for that matter.
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I think Idris is just ID-ris.
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