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I always heard it pronounced as ma-REE-ah.

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I actually think it’s quite beautiful. I prefer Marie to it, but Maria is a very nice name. Elegant, universal, and has stood the test of time. I see why.

It's ok in English (ma-REE-a) but three syllables is a bit much for me and Mary is so much prettier. In Polish (MAR-ya) it can be surprisingly endearing on the right person. Marysia makes my heart melt but I can see why past a certain age one would want to move away from that nickname.

It's my name! I pronounce it MAR-ya in Polish, but since I don't want to hear the rolled R and the decidedly non schwa As butchered I go with the English ma-REE-a in the UK.

I would have liked to use it for a daughter, but my husband cannot stand it, so that was a name we just took completely off the table; we each had a name we really liked but that the other one hated. He hated Maria, I hated SShelby.

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I've only ever heard it pronounced Ma-REE-a.

Don't really like it

I love the English pronunciation of Maria, it sounds fresh and pretty. The Spanish pronunciation I'm so tired of hearing, it's boooring.

I love it.

maREEa; definitely not maRIEa. Very widely used in Afrikaans, where it regularly shortens to Marie, pronounced MAHree, not maREE. It was my MIL's middle name - she died when DH was 5 - and we wanted to use one of her names for a daughter but her fn didn't work for us and we changed Maria to Mary. So, not a top favourite, but in the right context and with a ln that worked, it'd be fine.

I pronounce it like Maria Von Trapp in The Sound of Music.

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Pretty, if a little plain. I had gone to school with 2 growing up so it wasn't common enough in the time nor place to be generic but it did feel a bit generic regardless in the historical sense, if that makes sense? But I do like it in the casual sort of way. If I met a baby Maria I would be mildly intrigued in the way I am when I come across baby Mary's.

I really like it. I think it's a gleaming timeless lil ruby. The international name for the virgin. I pronounce it ma-Ree-a. It used to be a staple in my top combo, Minerva Maria Cecilia - very Roman name. I wish I had a combo that reflected my values as exactly as that one did. Anyway, I consider it holy because it's the virgin Mary, who symbolizes holy motherhood, and it's such a common name across so many cultures. I like it and Mimi as nickname, or with no nickname

It is french for Mary.