Wot do you think of this name

[littlemissm]

Marijka pronounced ma-ray-ka i know its dutch & is also a used name in south africa

sounds harsh IMO

I have seen a facebook group called my name is also marijka

It makes me think of the Macarena for some reason

Tbh, unless you're in NL or live in a Dutch-speaking community you'll just sound like a pretentious twat saying "actually it's ray-ka".

It's a fairly normal name in Belgium and Holland, but not easy if you live in an english speaking country.

It's just another version of Marie.

Love it.

I have a friend called Marijk. Grew up in England but has a Polish mother. Never caused any he problems. Generally, you only need to tell people a couple of times how to pronounce something and if they're family/friends they should have the good grace to pronounce it properly.

sounds pretty when you say it, but i bet you'll have problems with people spelling it properly or pronouncing it when they see it.

(but it does look a bit polish and with more and more polish people around, we'll get used to the pronunciations and have fewer problems reading them!)

Eww. No! No-one would pronounce it properly in this country for a start.

DH's Flemish cousin is a Marijke - pronounced Ma-rye-kuh. Yes it's a diminutive of Maria (the 'ke' meaning 'little' (not ka as in S Africa) is added to a lot of female names - most Flemish women over a certain age are called Maria (both his grandmothers!) and all sorts of diminutives/derivatives have occurred over the years. In the past the Catholic Church would not allow you to actually be baptised with anything but the formal name but now they do. Hence lots of Marijkes, Mias, Meikes, (latter my fave - pronounced mee-kuh - only somehow softer than that in a Flemish accent).

Meike = May-kuh? I think.

Mee-kuh = Mieke

(Got a Dutch Mieke living next door. )

Apologies - yes you are right on the spelling!

i before e except after c bellissima! (ook in vlaams)

But it is my favourite - a really pretty name. But, as discussed in relation to Marijke - no one would get it right here.