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!

Marianne, with Mari (pr Marry) for short?

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

Polly Esther lol

Love Mari

Love Meri too

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

Mariella means another Marie in Irish :-).

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')?

My little girl's name is Marieme, you pronounce it marry emm. It's very common in west Africa, a version of Mary

Gloria goes beautifully with Amos.

Tbh I think your DD would be safe until approx. A Level before people worked out the whole Esther/Ester bond thing - it'd be your colleagues that would be most likely to say anything to you.

I have only known one Marie and she is Muh-ree. I thought that was the most common way to say it in England - it probably is only in my area as things do seem to be pronounced against the status quo here .

I have an aunt called Mhairi, with the 'h', it's definitely pronounced vah-ree. Without the 'h', I would pronounce it mah-ree.

Marie would definitely be pronounced muh-ree to me.

I used to know a Scottish girl called Vari

Oh what about Mali (welsh)?

I love Marieme but DH just vetoed it on the spot. Humph. How is Mali pronounced?

I'd pronounce Mali like the dog from Marley and Me.