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HelpArabic Names and Western Pronunciation
My parents are Saudi, so we have given all of our children one western name and one Arabic name. The boys get the Arabic name as a middle name, the girls as a first name. We don't preview names with people we know prior to the actual naming to avoid negativity/too much input and a friend suggested this board to get some anonymous opinions on pronunciation.
We are between two names right now, and want to know how random western people would pronounce them from seeing them read. The second name we have two options on spelling, really, so I'll give both.
Nejat, which means salvation.
Maryam or Mariam, which means anything from wished for child, tuber rose, star of the sea to sea of bitterness, but would be a naming after the Virgin Mary.
How would you pronounce each of these spellings/names? All of them work with our last name and the middle name we have chosen. Thank you!
Regards,
Ranee
We are between two names right now, and want to know how random western people would pronounce them from seeing them read. The second name we have two options on spelling, really, so I'll give both.
Nejat, which means salvation.
Maryam or Mariam, which means anything from wished for child, tuber rose, star of the sea to sea of bitterness, but would be a naming after the Virgin Mary.
How would you pronounce each of these spellings/names? All of them work with our last name and the middle name we have chosen. Thank you!
Regards,
Ranee
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Replies
Thank you all for your responses!
It looks like if we want to get close to correct pronunciation, we need to go with Mariam over Maryam.
Nejat was a toss up. Some people were able to see it right away, others not so much. The only other way we could think to do it would be to spell it phonetically like Nezhat, but we were worried about what people would do with that. It is more like Neh-ZHAT, than Nuh-JAWT.
It looks like if we want to get close to correct pronunciation, we need to go with Mariam over Maryam.
Nejat was a toss up. Some people were able to see it right away, others not so much. The only other way we could think to do it would be to spell it phonetically like Nezhat, but we were worried about what people would do with that. It is more like Neh-ZHAT, than Nuh-JAWT.
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I would guess, at first glance:
Neh-jaht
Mar-ee-am
Neh-jaht
Mar-ee-am
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Nejat = Nuh-JAET
Maryam = MAIR-ee-im
AE = like the a in apple
AI = like a in Mary
When I saw Nejat I thought of how my dad would pronounce it, with the j as a y. He applies that Polish "j = y" rule when he tries to pronounce any foreign word.
Maryam = MAIR-ee-im
AE = like the a in apple
AI = like a in Mary
When I saw Nejat I thought of how my dad would pronounce it, with the j as a y. He applies that Polish "j = y" rule when he tries to pronounce any foreign word.
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ne-JAHT and MAHR-ee-am
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These are the closest to the Arabic pronunciation I've seen of the answers, thank you.
Maryam/Mariam are kind of a cross between your two pronunciations.
Maryam/Mariam are kind of a cross between your two pronunciations.
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I think I was biased knowing ahead of time they were Arabic :)
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I don't know the phonetics of the Arabic alphabet so I don't really know how to pronounce some names. But I am more than willing to learn if you wouldn't mind giving a brief instruction. Please? :o)
Nejat - (this is gonna reflect my ignorance so badly lol) Neh-jawt?
Maryam - MARY-am
Mariam - MARY-am
Maryam / Mariam are alot like Miriam (MEER-ee-am).
Nejat - (this is gonna reflect my ignorance so badly lol) Neh-jawt?
Maryam - MARY-am
Mariam - MARY-am
Maryam / Mariam are alot like Miriam (MEER-ee-am).
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