Shall I visit Wales?
 

At my rapidly advancing age I of course do not know how much more travel time (and money) I have left. My maiden name was Jones, and my father's mother's maiden name was Lloyd (hence my father, Lloyd Jones) so I have always wanted to visit Wales although not sure just where my Welsh forebears emigrated from.
My question is, am I the only one intimidated by pronouncing Welsh place names? While I am sure no nice Welsh person would laugh in my face, at the same time I do not wish to make a fool of myself. So far I have done pretty well with Irish but those Welsh names (can I buy a vowel?) frighten me.
Can someone reassure me?

Not to worry. Very few of us can pronounce Welsh names.

Just practice clearing your throat in the middle of words >)

These sites help a lot

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/livinginw...wdoisay/names/

http://www.cyclingwales.co.uk/welsh.html

don't forego your trip because some pronunciations elude you..just jump in and you'll find the locals will help. Frankly, it's not much different than visiting any foreign
countryhttps://picasaweb.google.com/stuarttower/Wales#

these pics will give you a shot at practicing some Welsh place names...Jones is a very common Welsh surname. Can anyone in your family give you any further help. Check out JanisJ's links...smile and GO!

BTW, most Welshmen don't speak the language. ;)

Go, have a lovely time, and don't worry about pronunciation.

Lee Ann

I'm seriously doubtful you'll gain much if you don't know where your ancestors hailed from.

Contrary to the rants of Welsh nationalists (the more sane of whom are simply local politicians with an unusual strategy for wasting other people's taxes on their own job security), Wales isn't a distinctive country. Its North is a glorified suburb of Cheshire and South Lancashire, its South an industrial suburb of South West England, and its middle the agricultural hinterland of England's Midlands. There's never been any serious physical or commercial relations between the three bits.

If your ancestors were North Wales sheep farmers, they almost certainly were almost unaware of the very existence of Cardiff, whose spurious role as Wales' "capital" is - like most of the nationalist flummery - a 19th century invention.

There's lots of nice countryside in parts of Wales (and a fair amount of not-so-nice stuff). Much of it is worth seeing if you've got enough time. But at the very least, if you want some appreciation of the world your ancestors grew up in, you really need to know where they came from.

It can't be THAT difficult to find your grandparents' birth certificates on the web. Surely to get naturalised, they'd have had to give their place of birth?

Ignor Flanneruk's dispepsic rant. If he thinks North Wales is a glorified suburb of Cheshire and South Lancashire, he can't have journed very far into North Wales.... I'd hardly describe the south as an industrial suburb either. The main industries of coal mining and iron making are long since dead.

There is also a very distinct boundary along the Welsh borders. Bishop's castle is quintessentially English. montgomery, only tem miles away across the border is very definitely Welsh.

Wales does feel different to England. All road signs are in Welsh and English. In the north Welsh is still the first language of most of the population. The south, particularly around Cardiff is where the intelligensia live. Welsh is spoken but very often it has been learnt.

If you want to get a feel for what it was like for your ancestors, visit St Fagan's Natural History Museum, just outside Cardiff. http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/stfagans/
I know the Natural History bit conjures up images of stuffed birds, but it isn't like that at all. Old buildings from all over Wales have been rebuilt here and it is a wonderful way to find out what conditions were like for your ancestors.

And finally don't be put off by all those unpronouncable Welsh names. Give it a go and ask the locals to help you try and pronounce them right. Be prepared to laugh with them at your attempts. You will have a lot of fun. GO FOR IT. If you don't you will always regret it.

I agree with ESW.
Given that the vast majority of visitors to Wales can't pronounce the names, and make no attempt to do so, don't be put off by them.

I hope you have a lovely time in the Land of my Mothers (since my mother was Welsh, not my Father ;) ).

I can't compete with Hets, I am only a quarter Welsh.

I can assure you that in most places you will receive a hugely warm welcome and experience a buoyant Welsh culture. There areas, particularly in Mid Wales, where Welsh as a spoken language is alive and you will hear many people on the streets using Welsh are their primary language.

But flanner does have a point that there is very little connection between the various parts of Wales. Visiting 'because my ancestors came from there' <i>only</i> makes sense if one knows where 'there' is specifically. Lots of lovely bits to be sure (see the Pembrokeshire links in my earlier post) but stepping foot in Cardiff or St Davids has nothing at all to do w/ family connections in Wrexham or Bangor or vice versa . . .

He also has a point when he suggests looking for family papers, birth certificates etc.
It's unfortunate that Jones is an extremely common name in Wales.

" flanner does have a point that there is very little connection between the various parts of Wales"

You could apply that argument to most countries.

Particularly in Europe, where political lines on a map do little to reflect the shared values or cultures of people in geographic areas.

>>You could apply that argument to most countries. <<

Absolutely. But many Yanks do assume that these are sort of homogeneous countries (not saying that applies to the OP necessarily).

Definitely go to Wales for the sights/sites, but don't expect to get a feel for where the family roots are unless you know where . . .

What a lovely group of friends I have made on Fodor's! Thank you all for your various replies.

Unfortunately, my Jones and Welsh ancestors are more than a generation or two back. Perhaps I shall double down on those lines and let the others wait for a while. Also unfortunately, along with Jones I have four separate Smith lines. *sigh* How do I decide which is mine of the myriad of John Joneses who emigrated to the States.

Wasn't necessarily planning to walk in the footsteps of the ancestors/ancestresses but that would be nice if I can. Mostly I just want to add another lovely little country to my very slim list of visits.