If I day Mariah...do you think Carey?

[GoingMadder]

It was my great grandmother's name (spelt Maria) but is it usable?

Mhairi (Mah-ray)?

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mhairi

Yes, but the peers of a baby born now with that name wouldn't.

Because Christmas pop songs never get played. I'd never think that a Bing was named after Mr Crosby, and am not thinking "White Christmas".

Yes bur also I think of Mariah Lucas in pride and prejudice.
It's a nice classic name

I think Maria Lucas from P&P or Maria Reynolds from Hamilton.

She was Maria.

But it was pronounced Mariah then

Yes.
It's a bit like Madonna or Kylie or Shakira.

No it really isn't.

@theduchessofspork , yes. And Sophia was Sof-eye-a, and Clara Clair-a.
I prefer the old way of saying them, but they're rare now.

Yes, but I'm a similar age to Mariah Carey. I've just asked 11yo dd if she knows who Mariah Carey is and she stared blankly. I think you'll be fine.

It's a lovely name. It's true that Maria was traditionally pronounced Ma-rye-a in the UK (and by Americans who didn't have Spanish or Italian speaking ancestry), but nowadays if you pronounce it that way but spell it Maria you will probably have to correct people every single time.

I'd think Maria(h) Lucas which is not a bad thing at all!

It's a good name. I named my dd after my granny and it's a lovely thing. She never met her but she likes that it's a connection.

But you'd get that with Mia (most say mee-a but some say my-a), or Evelyn (evva-lyn/evlin/eve-lin) etc.

You only need to correct someone once (allegedly).

I also prefer the older pronunciation of Maria, Sophia and Clara.

You could use Moriah? It’s a biblical name and easy to pronounce.

Maria Edgeworth is my first thought, but also ‘pariah’.

Oh please use Mariah!
It's such a beautiful name, and completely underused so I bet your DD won't have anyone else in her school called Mariah.
It's truly a beautiful name.
What does it matter about the association with Mariah Carey.
We can't have a generation of mums never using Meghan, or Kate/Catherine, or Taylor, because of the association with those famous ones. They are all nice names in their own right.
Your little girl will own her name.
Anyhow, Mariah Carey is a lovely person with an incredible singing talent, so it's not a negative association even if someone did make that link!
I named my DD a name that I personally loved all of my life and always knew I'd use it if I someday had a baby girl, which I did. Little did I know at the time that millions of other mums were having the exact same thought, and my DD is now at school with dozens of girls with the same name, and we hear her name being called out by other mums to their daughters everywhere we go - parks, swimming pools, theme parks, beaches, it's literally everywhere. I didn't know this when I named her. I feel sad to the point of upset that my DD's name, though lovely to me, is so, so common.
I'd much rather use a name like Mariah that might be associated with 1 famous person but nobody else we know or come across is called it, compared to another name that isn't associated with 1 particular person but is heard EVERYWHERE.
If I could go back in time, I'd name my DD Mariah in a heartbeat! You'll never go to a public children's place hearing "Mariah!" being called by different mothers calling their children! And that counts for a lot, let me tell you!

I love the name Maria.
I always think of Black Mariah, the original police van, but I promise you I'm not that old 😂

I think it was a common threat up north to be "carted away in a Black Mariah" if you didn't behave as a child 😬

Love it! I’ve never met a Mariah either.

Yes, I do think of Mariah Carey but I’ve known people whose names are the same as celebrities, the novelty wears off very quickly. I don’t think it’s something you need to be concerned about my luv. Go for it.

It's Black Maria, but said as Mah-rye-ah. In my youth, they were dark navy blue not black.