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People are going to misspell it. It's just a complicated name and that comes with the territory. People misspell much simpler names everyday. It's just a fact of life. Don't let that deter you.

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However, I live in South Carolina and I still think most people would do best to just leave the spelling as Llewellyn.
If nothing else, their autocorrects can help them with it, unlike if you change the spelling to something you think will work better, but autocorrect no longer recognizes.
It's easier to teach people the proper way than to teach them whatever way you thought would be better than the proper way. Does that make sense?

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I say loo-ELL-en, unless I know it's someone who is really Welsh and then I do my best to say it with the air-rush Welsh pronunciation (which I don't even have a clue how to type).

I love Llewellyn! Well, as a keen Welsh learner I pronounce it in Welsh, with this sound between l and sh, for ll, don't know how to describe it properly, it should be called a fricative I guess. Anyway. I prefer Llewelyn to Llewellyn, because it just sounds somehow more natural in pronounciation to me, I guess I've heard it more often, although with English pronounciation it rather isn't very important how many l's you will use, just the case of esthetics. Llywelyn is also great and it was the first form of this name I've come across. I guess if I would live in Wales or anywhere it could be usable, i'd use Llywelyn. As for usability, I don't live in the US, but I guess it could be quite troublesome, 'cause it really sounds like Lou Ellen in English and pronounced in English way sounds rather girly and very gently. So even if other children won't notice it and won't call him Lou ELlen, I suppose he'd have to always correct people how his name is pronounced and it might be hard to convince them that ew is not an oo sound, but just e-w. No idea about English version, I don't think there is any. You could use Lewellyn, although I'm not sure if it'll change anything plus it doesn't look that great then. Lewellen looks definitely like creative spelling of Louellen though so I wouldn't use it in any case.

This message was edited 12/12/2017, 11:23 AM

Llewelyn was used for Josh Brolin's character in No Country for Old Men, and it was pronounced the English way (loo-WEL-in); and I admit I found the name to be odd. It sounds like Lou-Ellen to me in English, and therefore not masculine. And the original Welsh pronunciation, I can't even say the double-L (I think it's one of those cases where you need to grow up saying it in order to pronounce the sound correctly)!

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As far as an "Anglicized" version is concerned, the only one I know of is Fluellen (floo-EL-in), which Shakespeare used in "Henry V." I think that might actually be less attractive.

This message was edited 12/11/2017, 9:45 AM

Love it, it has been a favorite of mine since I was 14 or so (which was a pretty long time ago lol). My Grandpa's family is from Wales, but unfortunately no Llywellyns or I would've easily used it for our oldest son. As it was, it still made it to the final name list. I live in the US and have only met one Llewellyn, he went by Lynn (named after his dad, who went by Llew). He didn't have any more trouble with it than half the names kids out there have these days.

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I think Llewellyn is the most recognized spelling, being a surname. But my preferred spelling is Llewelyn. I pronounce it in English, loo-EL-in.

Meh. It's ok, lots of letters. I prefer Llewyn / Lewin.

Leolin is a feasible alternative outside of the UK, I feel.

I loved it when I hadn't heard it said out loud. I thought it was pronounced LEW-eh-lin, not like Lou-Ellen. I can't get over the Ellen-part.
I'm still a fan of Llewen / Lewen though.

I pronounce it Loo-EL-en and I spell it Llewellyn. Much as I'd like to say there wouldn't be a sizable number of Americans who would think it's spelled Lou Ellen, I can't. I think it might be a headache.

I know a Llewellyn, but he's Welsh. I don't know if it could work in the US.

Sure, it's a fine name. I'd use the original spelling.

Hi !!!

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Llewellyn?
I have never thought about it.

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It is very distant from my heritage but also I dislike it because there are better Welsh names imo.

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As Italian I would pronounce it LAY-wel-leen.
I read that in this site the "ay" sound is a closed "e" like the French "é". If I'm right this is the sound for what I mean.

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But I just read that the Welsh pronounciation is shə-WE-lin.

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I generally dislike -lyn names and this one is by far too complex in my opinion.

This message was edited 12/10/2017, 9:33 AM

You sometimes see this as a last name in the US, so the pronunciation wouldn't be a problem, except for the fact that it sounds exactly like Lou Ellen, which is a very dated, middle-aged, countrified girls' name.
I wouldn't use it for that reason, and because it sounds so elderly and pompous.