Mara

[Littleheart5]

I’m in the final stages so not sure if I’m losing my mind but have happened upon Mara- means sea in Irish. I think it’s lovely. Pronounced like Sara, with an M. Any thoughts?!

Thanks so much for sharing @KTD27 and I’m so sorry to hear about the loss of your daughter.

Coincidentally ‘mara’ means woman in Maltese (perhaps going off at a complete tangent)

How you pronounce Connemara is not relevant to the fact that ‘mara’ in any other Irish phrase is ‘morra’ though — bia mara or éan mara just don’t rhyme with Sara.

Mar as in marbh (dead as Gaeilge) is how all those words are pronounced!

I think the difficulty may be that people are saying Sara and Sarah the same way. Obviously it isn’t pronounced like Sarah - ‘cer-a’, it is pronounced like Sara - sarr-a.

Anyway, I’m satisfied I know my Irish pronunciation, given my entire school education was by that medium and don’t need any help on that part!

PS if you’re pronouncing it éan morra you’re plain wrong!

Thanks to all those who gave comments on the name itself, it is very firmly on the list now ❤️

We defo pronounce it like you do OP

I’m a native speaker.

I will pass on your thoughts about mispronunciation to the population of Baile Bhúirne.

And I yours to Leitir Móir

I will pass on your thoughts about mispronunciation to the population of Baile Bhúirne

And I yours to Leitir Móir

Lol at two Irish women slugging it out over pronunciation 😂

In my part of Lancashire simple words like ‘book’ can be pronounced 3 different ways within 8 miles of each other but we don’t argue about it 😂

All I can think of when I hear Mara is the South American rodent, I'm afraid. I don't find it an attractive name at all. Sorry.

CLose to Myra? Yeah, apart from the middle letter being almost a full alphabet away from it. I like it.

Love it OP

I love this thread!

:D

This is why RTE Irish is the standard now.

Anyway, I like it. I don't like Amara. Too fancy.

Love it. I used to work with a lovely Mara.

Dd has a Mara in her class. It’s short for Tamara in her case. I like it.

Love it.
As a kid I used to read the Trebizon series, there was a Mara in that, I thought it was a Greek name.

Lovely

I think that it's beautiful, I considered it for one of mine.

It's gorgeous, unusual but not try hard.

I know a little girl called Mara. I really love it.

I really like it. Definitely "Mah-ra" for me.

Hi @Littleheart5 did you choose Mara in the end?! If so are you happy with it and what reactions have you had?

I've just added it to my list...

Oh my goodness that name was in my shortlist but everyone I said it to said they never heard of it!! I love it! And who knew I would log onto my favourite Mumsnet and hear Leitir Móir being discussed when Leitir Mealláin is close to home for me!!! And yes it is Mara as in Sara!!! Please tell me you used that name!!

Lovely name.

Really like it!