Maren is Scandinavian, right?

What about Mary? It's so old it's new again and no one uses it anymore so it's unique at this point. You could even go with a middle name like Mary Kate, Mary Beth, Mary Margaret, etc. Or just Mary.

I have horrible associations with Mara--it's my sister in law's name. I was told it means "bitter." She's neuro-diverse or something, but not in a lovable, good way, like on a TV show. She's so self-absorbed and awkward and phony. Apologies to anyone named Mara who's reading this. People may have initial associations with a particular name but then if the person is good they'll just come to associate the name with something good, is what I think about names.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer Maren over Mara. If you wanted mahr -uh it would need to be spelled Maura.

Except Maura is pronounced mohr-uh.

And Moira is pronounced moy-ruh.

And both will be mispronounced a lot.

IME, Moira = moy-ruh, Mara = mah-ruh, and Maura is either mohr-uh or mah-ruh depending on the regional accent. Similar to loh-ren vs law-ren.

That's the problem with these names. They each have an origin and "correct" pronunciation, but in the US in particular you see a wide variety of interpretations. To me, if someone pronounces Maura as mah-ruh, it's wrong to my ears because it's my grandmother's name and she would correct anyone who pronounced it that way. She'd rather someone pronounce it mou-ruh (like ou as in ouch) than mah-ruh.

I stayed away from names like this when naming my DD because I just didn't want her to spend her entire life either correcting other people's pronunciation or accepting that people pronounce her name three different ways because it's easier than constantly correcting. I really like the names Mara, Laura, Thea, Rhea, Alicia, Alana, Kara/Cara, Camilla, and Meghan, but every one of them has at least two pronunciations and I just didn't want to deal with it. We chose a name that has exactly one correct pronunciation in the US and where even in other countries, the pronunciation is extremely close and would not result in confusion with another name.

I prefer Mara. It’s a nice name although some will say “Mare-uh.”

What about Mia or Maya?

Anonymous wrote:Marta - have loved it since I was 5 and watched Sound of Music

I associate that name with Marta Károlyi so I wouldn't name even a rodent that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I prefer Maren over Mara. If you wanted mahr -uh it would need to be spelled Maura.

Except Maura is pronounced mohr-uh.

And Moira is pronounced moy-ruh.

And both will be mispronounced a lot.

IME, Moira = moy-ruh, Mara = mah-ruh, and Maura is either mohr-uh or mah-ruh depending on the regional accent. Similar to loh-ren vs law-ren.

Anonymous wrote:I prefer Maren over Mara. If you wanted mahr -uh it would need to be spelled Maura.

Except Maura is pronounced mohr-uh.

And Moira is pronounced moy-ruh.

And both will be mispronounced a lot.

I love Maren pronounced Mair-uhn. Mah-ruhn feel’s pretentious and try hard.

There is also Marissa. Mara is ok.

Anonymous wrote:What about Maura/Moira?

Agree. Mara and Maren found like stupid made up names. Give your children names they can be proud of!

Anonymous wrote:I like Maura. There’s also Marin but agree you’ll have to decide how to pronounce it.

Maura is beautiful!

Marta - have loved it since I was 5 and watched Sound of Music

I prefer Maren over Mara. If you wanted mahr -uh it would need to be spelled Maura.

Mara means demon or death in Sanskrit, for bad Hindu and Buddhist vibes