Is Marianne different enough to Marian?

[shoppingtrolley]

I love Marianne but don't like Marian at all - do you think they are different enough?

Also what's your favourite of these:
Mary
Marianne
Miranda
Martha

Thanks!

Tom Waits 'Martha' is heart breakingly beautiful! My second favourite TW song. Prefer it to Leonard Cohen's Marianne.

Sorry Leonard!

But to be fair if you were growing up you might find LC's Marianne funner than TW's Martha to put on while you did your makeup etc. TW's is too heartbreaking!

"I love Marianne but don't like Marian at all - do you think they are different enough? "

different enough for what? To me they are practically the same name- and I feel equally lukewarm about both. But you have strong feelings about one so only you can know whether the other produces the same strong feeling, surely?

[puzzled emotion]

Well, they have a different load of cultural/historical associations and a different sound for me, but I wanted to check whether they did for others too. Lol but I can see that written down they look almost the same

Different enough from each other Seeker.

To me they are totally different names - one is lovely, one is bleh.

Likewise, as I said yesterday on another thread, I dislike the names Jean, Joan and June but adore the name Jane.

Sometimes, even when two names look very similar, they can have totally different associations for people. It's amazing how even adding an 'a' onto a name sometimes really changes it in people's perception.

Thanks everyone! I do love Martha too.

I totally agree, shoppingtrolley. Love Marianne. Not keen on Marion/Marian/Miriam. Don't really like Marianna either - the 'a' somehow makes it too fussy. Apologies to anyone with those names - just my own personal taste.

Anyway, DH and I loved the name Marianne so much we named my DD it! It has great nickname potential, has very cool namesakes (Faithfull and Dashwood) and it's so gorgeous and elegant for later years.

named our DD - not just mine!

I have a 6 week old Martha it's a marmite name. Some people LOVE it and some don't like it at all. People's reactions to loving it far out weigh the ones who don't like it. Martha is my favourite!! Obviously!!

I loved Martha too - clearly have a thing for M names!

That's useful, ditzy, to hear the name is working out for your DD!

Kind love Mary-so under used these days too.

love Marianne and also Miranda.

don't like Marian at all - i do think there is a difference.

I reckon that Mary may have a resurgence due to Downton!

I really do think there is a big difference between Marian and Marianne. I remember my HV, when she saw DD's name, said: 'Oh, my mother's name is Marian!' and I smiled politely and nodded but was thinking: 'But that's COMPLETELY different!'

Marianne is very different from Marian - different sound, look, pronunciation.

To throw in a curve ball, I also really like Arianne...

When I saw the thread title I thought you meant that you already had a Marian and were thinking of calling your second daughter Marianne!

From your list I like Marianne and Miranda. We are also considering Marianne and I agree that it's completely different to Marian, which I don't like either.