Immediate confession: I am not pregnant and likely will not become pregnant for several years but I do have a question. I was thinking of names I might use for future children, because that’s what I do when daydreaming, and was considering the rule of 3-2-1 or some combo of that in terms of syllables. I would like to use the name [name]Margaret[/name] as a middle name as it is my mother’s name but was wondering about commonly accepted pronunciation.
My family all pronounces my mom’s name [name]Mar[/name]-gret, not [name]Mar[/name]-gar-et. Thus 2 syllables versus 3. The fn I love, [name]Coraline[/name], has three and following the rule above either is flowing or too long. Basically how do you pronounce [name]Margaret[/name] (Is my family just lazy tongued or is this normal?)? should I just spell the name phonetically?
I’ve alwas heard [name]Margaret[/name] as 2 syllables. Caveat: I’m not related to any. But I hear less of a third syllable in [name]Margaret[/name] than I do in [name]Catherine[/name] (which I always think of as 2.5).
I would NOT spell it differently unless I was going for a different version, like [name]Margot[/name]/[name]Margaux[/name] or [name]Marguerite[/name] - [name]Marguerite[/name] is 3 to me. It’s a very traditional name people know how to say, no point in phoneticizing it. Makes me think of the character Magrat from the Discworld novels.
[name]Coraline[/name] [name]Margaret[/name] is works fine for me.
I’ve only ever heard [name]Margaret[/name] pronounced the way your family pronounces it.
I’m starting to love [name]Margaret[/name]. I met a young adult [name]Margaret[/name] recently, who only goes by the full name (not [name]Meg[/name] or anything). She was really pretty in a simple-stylish way, and suited her name perfectly.
I think it goes either way easily. Some say it with 2 syllables and some with 3, and it is not so common that people will disagree with whichever you choose. I am in the 2 syllable camp.
I like [name]Coraline[/name] [name]Margaret[/name] well enough but don’t like [name]Sky[/name] at the end.
I read it as three syllables but pronounce it as two and I didn’t realize that until just now when I read your post. If I had a [name]Margaret[/name] on a roll sheet I would probably say it with three syllables first because I read through rolls so quickly, but then ammend it to two. Wow, I don’t know if that makes any sense haha!
Two syllables for sure. Growing up I had an English Bulldog and we named her [name]Margaret[/name] (we wanted to give her a very human name with British associations; our neighbor bought her sister and originally named her Bimbo but we convinced them to change it to [name]Fergie[/name]). We only ever pronounced it with two syllables. When I imagine a British person saying [name]Margaret[/name], I imagine two syllables. I think only a non-English speaker would say it with more than two.