Marie pronounced Marry... and some more names

[Purplelooby]

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!

She will spend her life saying no it's marry bit Marie...

marry not marie, sorry.

I would stay away from Marie pronounced Marry. Her whole life will be correcting people's pronunciation and spelling. Why not Mary or Merry?

I do like Sylvia, Iris, and Esther.

I've only heard/known Maries pronounced as Marrys, never heard it pronounced any other way.

Mairi is pronounced like that.

Esther and chemistry I have to ask? What is that about?

Mari would definitely work and it's lovely.

Marianne?

If DS was DD he'd be Sylvie
Love it
I always feel sad for children who'll go through life spelling out their name and correcting pronunciation.

There is a type of molecule called an Ester...

I think the common pronunciation was Marry for a long time and then fashions changed. Mari is sweet but feels like there is a letter missing... I have a friend who is a Mhairi pronounced Marry so I couldn't really use it like that without an awkward explanation...

I grew up with one of those often-mispronounced names and I'm not too bothered, but Marie is more annoyingly popular as Muhree. Any other suggestions or spellings?

Love Esther

Well, I was also going to suggest Mhairi but you've ruled that out. Mari isn't a bad idea though. I think most people will pronounce Marie as Muhree tbh.

Well, I was also going to suggest Mhairi but you've ruled that out. Mari isn't a bad idea though. I think most people will pronounce Marie as Muhree tbh.

Marie would either be pronounced muh-ree or mar-ree. Marry is the French pronunciation I think.

My mother is a Marie (pronounced Marry), now in her seventies. People who don't know her often call her MuhrEE, but really, it doesn't happen that often. If you like the name (and I love it), use it. Just gently correct people who will see her often (eg teachers) and ignore the others - it really isn't a big deal.

Traditionally in Scotland both Marie and Mairi were pronounce Marry. 'Muhree' was spelt Maree to differentiate. Now though, it's fairly uncommon so you'll find people pronouncing your Marie as 'Muhree'.

Go with Mairi. But definitely not the spelling 'Mhairi' because it's pronounced Varry.

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).

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?

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.

My dm is Hungarian. She is Marika.

What about Merrie?

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

Merrie makes me think of hobbits...

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?

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