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Baby names

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

Mercy?

37 replies

raintropics · 24/11/2021 10:44

Ideas for names that mean Mercy (either gender)?

Would Mercy itself be a bit too out there?

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RupertOscar1999 · 26/11/2021 19:22

Mercedes and Mercy as the nn. Hannah and Annabella are also cute. And for boy names I found Armo and Ashane nn Shane.

UsernameIsHarderThanBabyName · 25/11/2021 11:05

Not keen on Mercy but love Ruth

PAFMO · 25/11/2021 07:09

I'd also presume it was an Anglicisation of Mercedes. Or someone very puritanically old church. Or was a fan of Mercy Dulbottle in the Jill books.
In itself it's not awful. It sounds OK. It means something nice.
But not sure I'd want to be called it.

miltonj · 25/11/2021 00:47

I like mercy. I knew one as a child. From the states. I'd go for it.

nocoolnamesleft · 25/11/2021 00:28

Like the Ruth idea.

BubbleCoffee · 25/11/2021 00:25

I like it. I know it appears in Christian services, but then so does Grace and that's very popular.

Mymymycorona · 25/11/2021 00:01

I know a Mercy. She is one of the loveliest humans I have ever encountered so to me it is a beautiful name. For a girl. Not so sure it would work on a boy.

Scarby9 · 24/11/2021 23:55

Near synonyms - Grace, Charity, Clemency.
I love Clemency - Clem or Clemmie.
I know a Mercia aged 87 - always lnown as Merce.

Luredbyapomegranate · 24/11/2021 23:48

It's a bit much I think.

Maybe a more moderate virtue name like Hope or Faith? Or something like Marianne, Maria, Miriam, Maryam.

CouncilHousedAndViolentBaby · 24/11/2021 22:13

Pretty tho would probably think it's short for Mercedes (Hollyoaks fault🙈)

CouncilHousedAndViolentBaby · 24/11/2021 22:12

I love that song by Duffy🥰

TrashyPanda · 24/11/2021 18:34

I just think of Roy Orbison singing Pretty Woman!

raintropics · 24/11/2021 13:31

I do really like Ruth!

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KrispyKale · 24/11/2021 12:54

Personally I far prefer Ruth.

MirandaBlu · 24/11/2021 12:53

It's definitely a "virtue name" used in Puritain communities in (what became) the USA. One of the main characters in the novel The Witch of Blackbird Pond, set in Connecticut colony in 1687, is Mercy. Of course not as popular today as similar names like Faith, Grace, Hope. And I wonder if now it would be confused with Marcie, short for Marcia?

Here's what came up in a seach for "mercy, compassion" on behindthename: www.behindthename.com/names/gender/feminine/meaning/mercy,compassion/description/mercy,compassion

I quite like Clémence, or maybe Clementine.

KrispyKale · 24/11/2021 12:45

Clemency?
A quick Google brought up Anna!?

Edenember · 24/11/2021 12:40

I’m not keen. I do like a couple of other virtue names but this is a bit too Puritan for me. Clemence is a more wearable alternative but the pronounciation would be butchered in the UK.

KrispyKale · 24/11/2021 12:40

I do not like it as a given name. It's like Prudence or Charity, just overtly big ideas for an individual to carry off.
Grace is a bit better.
As a Mercian I would not consider Mercia a as a given name either: it's like Wessex or Kent.

Carboncheque · 24/11/2021 12:37

Portia? (‘The quality of mercy is not strained …’)

maddy68 · 24/11/2021 12:36

Merci is a spanish girls name. It's lovely

Sausagis · 24/11/2021 12:34

Are you a Patricia Briggs fan by any chance?

FlickerBeat · 24/11/2021 12:31

@wavingwhilstdrowning

I know 2 women called Mercy - both are of African descent. One of them hates her name and thinks it makes people view her as someone who should always be helpful.
Exactly the same here, but I only knew the one.
ParkheadParadise · 24/11/2021 12:16

I don't like it, I would think I'm at Mass every time I said it.🙈

Lord, have mercy. God our Father in Heaven, have mercy on us. God the Son, Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us. God the Holy Spirit, have mercy on us.

urbanbuddha · 24/11/2021 12:09

Not keen on Mercy as a name.
Liberty?

AuntDympna · 24/11/2021 12:05

I like Mercy, but I am surprised by what others think it means: to me it is compassion.
Try these:
Mila
Clémentine etc
Ruth
Grace
Eleos, Leonora, Eléonore etc
Pieta, Piedad etc