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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Marie pronounced Marry... and some more names

67 replies

Purplelooby · 16/01/2014 23:04

DD is due in 8 weeks and I need a name. She'll be little sis to Amos.

My DGM's best friend, who is lovely, is called Marie pronounced Marry. I also like the nod to to Marie Curie and Marie Stopes 'cos I'm a bit of a feminist. BUT, would she spend her life saying 'no it's not Muhree, it's Marry'?

Other names I like are Sylvia, Iris (but I'm worried it's heading for the top 20) and Esther (although I work in chemistry so the last one could be wierd). As well as your opinions on Marie, hit me with some more suggestions!

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PicardyThird · 19/01/2014 22:59

Ada is a fantastic suggestion and works v well with Amos, unlike Iris, which I also love. Love Sylvia too. Mariella is lovely, or how about Meriel, or Maren (it's a name I first came across in Germany, pronounced with a long 'a', i.e. Maahren, and means 'from the sea')?

anothernumberone · 19/01/2014 22:51

Mariella means another Marie in Irish :-).

anothernumberone · 19/01/2014 22:49

This is so interesting. We have the same softening of the names in Irish when referring to a person but we would never say it is some ones name and it is always preceded by the word A. So Seamus becomes A Sheamus when he is being called, actually there is a different spelling but I cannot remember it but I never cottoned onto the fact that was where Hamish comes from. Mairi would be A Mhairi in Irish too also pronounced A Varry.

Original poster
Purplelooby · 19/01/2014 22:04

Ooo I love Gloria and DH has just given it the nod too - it sounds beautiful with their surname! Amos and Gloria, what strong names!

The amusing thing is that my boss, also a chemist, has a daughter called Esther too... Pure coincidence, but I did laugh when she told me. Hmmm.

I'm still loving Marie, or any of its misspelling. I'm part scottish so it wouldn't be too wierd to steal a scottish spelling and go for Mairi - I'm sure it would make my Daddy very proud :) I also love the idea of going for Marianne.

OP posts:
PsychicPaper · 19/01/2014 07:22

You cant use Esther if you are a chemist.

When i was doing my chem degree, one of our lecturers named their LO that, lots of eyebrows were raised. Worse, she was an organic chemist!

Astarael · 19/01/2014 05:44

I have a great aunt Marie pronounced marry who is also Welsh.

There is currently another thread on here about the name Mariella which would naturally shorten to Marie pronounced marry I think.

AGoodPirate · 19/01/2014 01:56

I really like it, either as Mari or Marie. Mari could be short for Mariam.

Rosencrantz · 19/01/2014 01:39

If you're after a feminist name, go for Gloria! It is gorgeous!

Cwtchbach · 18/01/2014 21:28

Mari is a Welsh name, my DD has it for her middle name after my Great Aunt. I know quite a few people called Mari here in Wales.

florascotia · 18/01/2014 10:59

Weegiemum I'm sure that's true - pronouncation does vary and I think that 'Marry' may well be the more frequent one. From my own experience, I've only known two people who spelled their name Mhairi. One was 'Marry', the other 'Varry'. That's not a very large sample!

One the other hand, I've met lots of people in Scotland called/spelled 'Marie' and they have all been pronounced 'Marry', if that helps the OP with her original question.

Weegiemum · 18/01/2014 10:43

My dc are bilingual Gaelic/English speakers. Just asked them - they say that what happens is the spelling will change (Mairi -> Mhairi) but at school it would be pretty unusual to change the pronounciation when talking to a friend. It's always Mairi.

florascotia · 18/01/2014 10:36

HyverPavia

You heard correctly. This is all going to sound horribly geeky, but, grammatically speaking, Mairi (Marry) is the actual name. It is the Gaelic version of Mary.

But Scottish Gaelic words change according to how they are used. (Rather like Latin, and several other languages.) So if you are speaking to someone called Mairi, you would call her Mhairi. And the 'Mh' sound is pronounced 'V', so 'Marry' would become 'Varry'.

Since names are very frequently used as a way of speaking to someone (technically, in the vocative case) some people call themselves Mhairi (Varry) all the time.

But not many people speak Gaelic. Hundreds more have seen the name Mhairi written down, and just assume it is a fancy form of spelling Mairi, and they like it. So they spell their name 'Mhairi' but pronounce it 'Marry'. VERY confusing!!

This link might be interesting: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhairi

HectorVector · 18/01/2014 08:01

I know a Marie pronounced Marry. Yes I got it wrong when I first met her and she corrected me but I've never got it wrong since. People will know how to pronounce it once they know her. I think it's lovely. Amos and Marie very nice names!

Fantail · 18/01/2014 07:45

If you are looking for another science-y name how about Ada (Ada Lovelace) Amos and Ada is quite cool sounding.

Turvytopsy · 17/01/2014 23:08

Love Mari

Love Meri too

Theas18 · 17/01/2014 23:05

If you re a chemist surely she's got to be called

Polly Esther lol

JacqueslePeacock · 17/01/2014 23:01

Marianne, with Mari (pr Marry) for short?

Xfirefly · 17/01/2014 22:57

my midwife during labour was called mari (marry). I really loved her name Smile

Surf25 · 17/01/2014 22:49

Mara? Also a Celtic name , meaning of the sea (or something like that, I think)
Or merryn?
I'm afraid I would foresee a lot of potential teasing that you may have to endure if people got the ester/Esther pun. However, I equally think that an awful lot of people wouldn't even realise and then she would just become her own wee person and it would be far less of an issue! I'm in Scotland so Mairi and Marie are both pronounced marry. I agree that Mhairi is Varry, however also know scottish folk where the girls are Mhairi and the parents chose marry as the pronunciation!
Mariska? Naomi? Juliana?

Original poster
Purplelooby · 17/01/2014 22:45

Merrie makes me think of hobbits...

OP posts:
Spottybra · 17/01/2014 21:50

What about Merrie?

Similar names from the same origin are merrilee, marielle, merree, meryn.

Longdistance · 17/01/2014 21:44

My dm is Hungarian. She is Marika.

JanePurdy · 17/01/2014 21:41

Marie Stopes pronounced it MAA-ree (I am terrible at writing out pronunciations, but basically not how it is pronounced in the magazine!)

My friend's mum is Marie pronounced Marry, it always confuses me because I am used to the pronunciation above, but I like it.

Original poster
Purplelooby · 17/01/2014 20:28

HyvaPaiva I thought I'd heard that Mhairi was Varry too, but she's Scottish so I thought I'd made it up... I love the name Mary as it is both my (recently deceased) DGM's name and my other (still alive) DGM's middle name, but a friend of mine has recently used it and her daughter has play dates with my son, hence we see her a lot and it'd be a bit wierd. Marie/Mari/Mairi still seems like a nice alternative.

MelanieWiggles it seems like it's that generation who used it as Marry. It doesn't sound French so I'm very confused. My Auntie has told me she works with two (older) Maries, both pronounced Marry.

Any more similar suggestions or spellings?

OP posts:
florascotia · 17/01/2014 09:00

Just as HyvaPavia says.

The same applies to boys - in Scottish Gaelic James = Seumas, which becomes 'Hamish' when a person is being spoken to.

The elderly relative of one of my friends came from a Welsh-speaking part of Wales. Her name was spelled Mari, pronounced Marry. I don't know whether that spelling/pronunciation is still used in Wales today? And of course the same 'a' sound is still used by the French, in 'Marie' (Marr-ee).