Mara for Mark?

[y1ifan]

I need opinions! I am pregnant with baby #2. First baby was a girl.

My husband lost his father right before we met and he has always been adamant that he would name a son after his father, Mark. Here is the dilemma... This baby is also a girl, and this is our last baby. He is thrilled to be a girl dad, but disappointed that he won't be able to honor his dad in that way. So I am looking for options that could honor Mark, in a name for a baby girl.

The option we like so far is Mara. Does Mara make sense as a feminine tribute to Mark? They keep that Mar sound the same, so I see it. But it's also not a name that has a "traditional" female version. Thoughts?

Markella maybe ?

I think it is too.

I rather like it, given the background OP. It is very much in line with fashionable names like Lara and revivals of things like Ada.

Marieka sounds like Mark

It’s one of many Mary / Maria / Masha / maryam / Miriam variants.

Lots of lovely M names.

Does Mara make sense as a feminine tribute to Mark? No.
I'd use a middle name like Marcia, Marcine, Marcelle, Marcella or Markova.

I actually like Mara better than any of those though.

Love the name Mara

Mara is cute, but it doesn’t share much with the name Mark other than the first three letters. Someone mentioned looking for other names with origins in war, which is nicely referential.

Or you could look for descendants in mythology from the god Mars. I can only think of Volupta, which isn’t a great name. You could also look at Greek mythology for descendants of Ares.

Or names like Martia/Marcia/Marcella, which derive from the Latin “of Mars”.

I don't.

I think it's Marcia, for the female equivalent to Mark.

Whereas Mara is not really connected in origin to Mark, but it's much nicer! And it has the same sound at the beginning, and only one letter different from Mark, so if your DP and you want to use it in tribute, what's wrong with that?

Sorry for the loss of your partner's dad.

I would go for Martha - very pretty name - sounds good both young and old. We have a lovely girl at our office called Marcey - that’s also pretty

I really would not lumber a girl with the name Mark.
Would give a boy a girl’s name?
What about Marnie?

I like Marcie.

Most people probably won’t catch the reference, but in the Bible the name Mara is described as meaning bitter. This is in the book of Ruth and is one of those Bible facts I’ve always remembered.

@WildWindySeascape ,same as Mary and Miriam, IIRC.

Mary is nice.

So many lovely choices.
Mara is nice and uncommon.

Choosing the same initials as Grandpa could also be a tribute. Or using his favourite flower.

Marketta.
Mariella
Marcelle
Marcia
Mary
Mara
Marcasite
Markezite
Marigold

Mara is lovely, the Gaelic meaning is beautiful.
No-one will be judging you for your choice of middle name. If it's meaningful to you and DH, go for it. You can tell your daughter her middle name has almost the same letters as grandpa's name. She'll love it.

I like Mara and it is a close enough link that your daughter - and husband, and his family - can all feel the connection. So I think it works. But I actually agree with pp that Mark would be quite a cool middle name for a girl! Especially if your taste for first names runs quite girly… something like Annabelle Mark Smith, or Emily Mark Jones, or Francesca Mark Evans etc. Really kind of works!

Mark is fine for a middle name.

My Scottish grannie and my aunties and nieces have middle names that come from other names including surnames. McPhate, Lambie, Logan, Ross, Graham and Neale.

A friend’s new baby girl has Lawn as her middle name. (No Scottish heritage), but quite cool, I thought

Using Mark would not be any different.

I know a woman called ‘Markie’ which I think is a girls name

Mara is lovely - I also adore Marketa as suggested above

Pronounced like marquee? Please don't use this!

I hate the way this "fact" is quoted and so many people amplify it.
Mary, Maryam, Miriam, Mara, Maria are pure names with a lovely sound. Not every name has to have a meaning, and it's really rude to throw shade by inventing etymologies based on random meanings of bits of names in random languages.

I know a real life Mara aged 19

I have a friend who has Mark as her middle name, after her Grandfather! It’s never been a problem for her. Her first name is very obviously female. Mara is lovely too.

If you can have a Nigella, surely you could have Marka?