Active discussions

Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Baby names

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

Original poster

Maheen or Mehreen?

34 replies

Babynamespring · 21/01/2022 12:46

Last one!! Sorry I know I’ve posted two threads already, I took all the advice given in the past comments on board, you were all so helpful! and now I’m considering these names, hoping that there won’t be any weird associations to these ones, let me know if they sound like anything odd. Also, which one sounds the nicest to you? Thanks!

Maheen: moon-like (radiant/ beautiful like the moon)
Mehreen: affectionate/ loving or bright like the sun. Mehr has two meanings, love & Sun

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Set a reminder
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
bingandflop · 24/01/2022 16:23

Depends on how important the 'h' pronunciation is in Mehreen. My friend has a son called Mihran and everyone pronounces it mirren as in Helen Mirren.

averythinline · 24/01/2022 09:33

Would pronounce as meh- reeen (meh as in not great ) do would go with Mahreen ...both beautiful meanings though

LouLouLou37 · 23/01/2022 23:35

I know a Mehreen. And I pronounce it Meh-heh-reen

Original poster
Babynamespring · 22/01/2022 11:03

@Luredbyapomegranate Yep for girls! I did, Farimah is lovely but I’m not too keen on it anymore for some reason.

OP posts:
Luredbyapomegranate · 21/01/2022 21:05

For girls? They do remind of Maureen TBH, which is not a lovely name.

Are you the lady who had a list including Farimah? That’s lovely, I think.

Original poster
Babynamespring · 21/01/2022 18:30

Thank you for all these responses!! Just to clarify, Maheen is pronounced like Maa-heen, the “a” is like the a in Aria for example.

OP posts:
Flocon · 21/01/2022 18:22

Mehreen

Derrymum123 · 21/01/2022 18:03

I have a good friend named Mehreen. She goes by Meena at work, she truly is a ray of sunshine and certainly loved. Love that name and what it means.

Fatherliamdeliverance · 21/01/2022 17:54

I don't think either should be too hard to pronounce, the 'h' will be included in Maheen by most English speakers (unless they know Urdu too). Other than that, I think they're pretty close to how they're spelt from how you say you would pronounce them.

I love the meaning of Maheen and the sound of Mehreen so in your position would be tossing a coin!

celestebellman · 21/01/2022 17:48

I would go for Maheen, as easier for English speakers to pronounce, and I think Mehreen will be regularly mispronounced. Maheen is really lovely.

SoupDragon · 21/01/2022 17:16

@Babynamespring

When I say Mehreen in a non Urdu/ English accent, it sounds better than Maheen I think.. Maheen = Maa-een Mehreen = Me-reen But the h is easier to pronounce in Maheen for non Urdu speakers I think?
As a life long English speaker, I would go for Ma-heen (short "a" like apple) and May-Reen. Although I'm not sure why I'd go for an "ay" sound ther 🤔
Laquila · 21/01/2022 16:09

@Babynamespring

When I say Mehreen in a non Urdu/ English accent, it sounds better than Maheen I think.. Maheen = Maa-een Mehreen = Me-reen But the h is easier to pronounce in Maheen for non Urdu speakers I think?
English-speakers will pronounce it as Maa-heen, rather than Maa-een.
Laquila · 21/01/2022 16:06

Mehreen is lovely.

chesirecat99 · 21/01/2022 16:05

English speakers will be able to pronounce the h in Maheen because there is a vowel on either side, so they will pronounce her name correctly and easily.

It is an h followed by a consonant, as in Mehreen, that doesn't exist in the English language so people will really struggle to pronounce it (the h would be silent in English). "Meh" would be pronounced like the exclamation "meh", used to show disinterest in something or that something is a bit rubbish.

Even if they know the h should be pronounced, that sound doesn't exist in English so people actually don't have the intuitive "physical knowledge" (IYSWIM) of how to produce that h sound, where to position the tongue etc. The h sounds in English are produced with a different tongue position/mouth shape I'm sure someone will be along with the correct technical term. Her friends will learn in time but most people won't pronounce the h so it will sound like Me-reen.

Elspethelf · 21/01/2022 15:48

I prefer Maheen. I think Mehreen might be confused with Maureen or Marine. If Mehr is a shortening, I would pronounce that like like Mare. I don’t think of any other words with Maheen though

Original poster
Babynamespring · 21/01/2022 15:41

*will sound

OP posts:
Original poster
Babynamespring · 21/01/2022 15:41

@MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake Thanks for mentioning this, I think this will be the case with most people, Maheen is easier to pronounce, will sounds much closer to the Urdu pronunciation then Mehreen.. if the decision is based on ease of pronunciation, then Maheen wins I think!

I love both, really hard to decide!

OP posts:
MissHavishamsMouldyOldCake · 21/01/2022 15:36

With Maheen I'd say ma-HEEN, but with Mehreen I think I'd just assume it was a silent H, mer-een.

Original poster
Babynamespring · 21/01/2022 15:34

When I say Mehreen in a non Urdu/ English accent, it sounds better than Maheen I think..
Maheen = Maa-een
Mehreen = Me-reen
But the h is easier to pronounce in Maheen for non Urdu speakers I think?

OP posts:
Original poster
Babynamespring · 21/01/2022 15:32

The “h” is pronounced in both, but in this case I don’t think if the h is accidentally dropped that the names will sound too bad compared to my previous options like Mahnoor (= manure when you don’t say the h).

OP posts:
chesirecat99 · 21/01/2022 15:27

They are both lovely and I prefer Mehreen BUT you have the same problem that the h will be dropped by English speakers.

celestebellman · 21/01/2022 15:22

How is Mehreen pronounced? Is it with the 'h' sounded? This is how I have heard it pronounced before (only know of one Mehreen though) so might lead to pronunciation issues.

I really like Maheen.

SoupDragon · 21/01/2022 15:21

I like them both. I do agree that Mehreen will often get misheard as Maureen though (assuming my imagine pronunciation is right!)

Fallible · 21/01/2022 15:20

Both are lovely, but I think Maheen

BlueSkyeThinker · 21/01/2022 15:18

I think Mehreen might get heard as Maureen over the phone by some people - she'd probably have to spell it out every so often - but people learn new names all the time. And plenty of Lauras get Lauren, or Alecs, Alex.

Swipe left for the next trending thread