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Marcella
Today I was with my mom at Barnes and Noble, and she ran into a woman named Mary Ellen she apparently knew and hadn't seen for a long time. Turns out, Mary Ellen was the mother of two kids, Julian and Marcella, who I used to have playdates with when I was 4 or 5.
Now, over the years I've run into people from this playdate group every now and then. It's where I met my friends Mike, Patricia and Shelby, I met a girl named Emily from this group in the 7th grade, and this kid Eric from the group dated another one of my friends.
This woman, Mary Ellen, had moved away years ago though, to a different part of Long Island, so I haven't seen or heard of Julian or Marcella since then. Marcella would be my age (18) and Julian would be 21.
Now, I like the name Julian well enough, but I'm really starting to dig the name Marcella. It sounded so familiar, like it was something I hadn't remembered in forever.
I did some research on it, and found out it's been in the top 1000 from 1900 until 1995, then again in 1997-1999, and then once more in 2002 before dropping out completely.
I also found out that my dad's uncle was married to a woman named Marcella Barnes. Weird, right?So, even though I don't like it as much as Marlena (which is a favorite of mine that everyone else seems to despise), what do you think of Marcella?
I think it's very pretty and old-fashioned but retro. I'm just hoping it won't be the next Emma or Isabella (which I liked before they became outrageously popular, and now probably wouldn't use).
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Macella is Ok But I like Marcelline or Marcellina even better.
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Marlena sounds a little harsh to me, but Marcella is beautiful.
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Depends on how it is pronounced. If it is mar-SE-la, I think it's okay. However, if it is mahr-CHE-lah, it's tremendously ugly.I quite like Marlena, by the way, but only if it is pronounced mahr-LE-nah.

This message was edited 11/3/2008, 7:31 PM

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mar-SEL-ah and mar-LAY-na.
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Marcella is terrific. Someone had a thread below about Regina and it has the same appeal to me: an overlooked gem; when you hear it on a live person it suddenly sparkles with freshness. I wouldn't worry about it becoming the next Emma or Isabella. There are so many other names waiting in the wings. Angelina Jolie's mother (and dd's mn) is Marchelline (sp?) so Marceline might get a little attention. But I still wouldn't worry about it.I love that Julian and Marcella both make me think of ancient Rome. Subtle. I like Mary Ellen's naming style a lot. :-) By the way, I love Marlena, but only if it's pronounced, "mar-LAY-nuh."
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Yup, pron mar-LAY-na.
I agree that Mary Ellen has great taste, and she's pretty awesome in herself. I think he's Julian Hector and she's Marcella Ariadne (I prefer Evadne).And Angelina's mother was Marcheline Betrand.
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