Welsh names, English fragility: ‘Why can’t he just call himself John?’

Stephen Price

A friend who works in retail relayed an event that played out in (you guessed it) Waitrose, Abergavenny last Saturday, following the historic Senedd election results the day prior.

While at the till, an English man asked one of her colleagues how to pronounce Rhun ap Iorwerth’s name, and my friend joined in the conversation, taking time to pronounce it correctly, thinking it would be met with a ‘thank you’ or an attempt to give it a go.

When he walked past her to leave, he looked her dead in the eye and said, mockingly: “It’s stupid, why doesn’t he just call himself John?”

Incredulous, she answered: “Learn to say it, it’s a good strong Welsh name. You live in Wales! Learn to say it.”

Welsh names are wonderful things. At once both poetic and defiant.

Names from school or the rugby field we took for granted – Ieuan, Gareth, Evan, Cerys and the like, or names that are growing in popularity today such as Osian, Aneurin, Eira and others, and many more that can (and should!) be mined from history, genealogy, warriors, saints and princes – the list is endless.

When it comes to our surnames, we do things slightly differently in Wales, or did. The ‘ap’ or ‘ab’ meaning ‘son of’ like the Irish O’ and Scottish Mac, giving us Prichard, Bowen, Penry and so forth.

Honour

My sister’s young boy was born soon a few years after my mum’s death, and in honour of her, his name stemmed from her maiden name (a loaded term in itself) – Griffiths – with the Price side honoured with Rhys to follow, as should be.

Gruffydd, or Gruff as he mostly goes by, no doubt has a lifetime ahead of him whereby he’ll be encountering repeats of how it’s gone to date for the most part.

Rather than pronouncing the ‘u’ as the english ‘i’ as one would for the number five in Welsh i.e. ‘pump’, more often than not, roll-calls end up with him sounding like his name is short for Gruffalo.

Online, his name morphs into Griff or Gryff underneath even a social media post where his name is clearly written above, and my sister is constantly asked ‘why that name?‘ and ‘why is it spelled that way?‘ (Which can be translated as ‘I don’t like that‘, and ‘it shouldn’t be spelled like that’).

And rather than questioning her decision, the assurance that it was the right name – that it couldn’t be anything but, that he is totally and utterly a Gruff to his core is strengthened with every loaded comment made.

 

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Over to Rhun ap Iorwerth, whose name we will quite wonderfully be hearing a lot more of for the next few years – how do we say it and what does it mean?

In his own words to ITV: “Rhun ap Iorwerth. So, think R H E E N… And that’s it, yeah. Perfect.”

As for his surname: “Iorwerth. So, ap is the Welsh version of Mac or son of. So, I’m Rhun, the son of Iorwerth. To complicate it, my dad is Edward and Iorwerth is Edward in Welsh. So, Rhun son of Edward. There you go.”

Simple, you’d think? Not if you’re unfortunate enough to have a few anti-Welsh, anti-Welsh democracy, and anti-Welsh language accounts unwillingly show up in your Facebook feed thanks to algorithms or screen grabs shared to other pages.

This week, Rhun’s name was even trending on X, where it was somehow seen as being up for debate and a source of amusement and belittlement.

Take Senedd Waste, who have an issue with our naming systems, or a family’s choice to simply translate one name to their native language.

Wales for a United Kingdom – another hangout for the unkind, decided to share: “Ronald has been sworn in as Supreme leader of the minority devolved separatist administration.”

As someone put perfectly on Welsh Politics Facebook page: “Why do Reform bots and cult members keep posting “His name is Ron Jones” under virtually every mention of Rhun ap Iorwerth on Facebook?
Some even go as far as to claim he was born in England.

“Rhun was born in Tonteg and his birth registered in Pontypridd, checking the indexes we find his mother was a Humphrys and his name was registered at birth as Rhun ap Iorwerth Jones.

“What’s the point of the lie? The lie is an attempt to strip Rhun of his Welsh identity, in the vain hope the Welsh will think less of him. Or to imply he is a fraud emphasising a mythical Welshness to hoodwink daft little Welshies to vote for him.

“As if reassertion of traditional Welsh names would be controversial anyway. My ancestors used ap/ab and ferch freely and there is no reason that we Welsh should feel shame at decolonisation of our names. Ap/Ab is our Mc/Mac or O/Au. It’s our heritage and our right to use as we see fit.

“Welsh have faced imposition of familial surnames for centuries, it is up to us when, if, how and when we abandon the foreign naming system and there is no shame in doing or not doing so.”

A similar thing continues to play out with Zack Polankski.

The Greens’ leader changed his name by deed poll at age 18, making the (I’d say quite beautiful) decision to restore his original familial surname of Polanski, which his ancestors had anglicised to Paulden to escape antisemitism.

This, again, is seen as a nice target for Polanski to be labelled a fraud and a charlatan despite it being all out there in the public domain, and a very purposeful, powerful act by a man who is proving himself to be quite the threat to, again, the unkind.

ap Iorwerth’s decision, no, his parents’ decision(!) to follow Welsh (and not English) cultural norms, is perceived as a threat to the status quo, a threat to accepted cultural colonialism, a threat to ‘for British see English’ identity.

The mirror turned

There was a time – centuries in fact – when minority people, repressed people, sought integration at all costs.

The adoption of the superpower’s language, accent, names even was performed for a multitude of reasons – from social status, to simply putting food on the table and gaining employment or progression in the toughest of tough times – and the impacts of that self-shame live on generation after generation.

One only need look at some Welsh people themselves and their own attitudes to our native language – ‘backward’, ‘a waste of time’ and the like. Seeds sown centuries ago, fed and watered by the descendants of those who had no choice in their denial of the language of their mothers and fathers.

As for the trolls, and the racist accounts, their aim is simply to discredit, to cast doubt on integrity and let’s face it, to mock.

Their hope is to bring others on side, since that’s the only mud they have to sling.

It’s heartening, then, to see that most can see through the loaded history of those who ask: ‘why can’t he call himself John?’ – whose intelligence is beyond learning a name from a country that is finally standing its ground, or simply being respectful and keeping their mouths shut.

The discomfort and backfired mockery of Rhun’s name speaks volumes, and should inspire us to gift our own children with such beautiful, evocative and proudly defiant names.

Change is in the air. So let’s all revel in the discomfort our language offers to those who seek to see us diminished, shamed and kept in line.

Because those days are finally done.

And they ain’t seen nothin’ yet.