My husband and I have recently decided that we’d like to honor our grandmothers (both named [name]Mary[/name]) by using some version of the name [name]Mary[/name] as a middle name. The 2 first names we are considering at this point are [name]Annalise[/name] and [name]Hadley[/name] (very different styles, I know!)
I’m having trouble coming up with anything that flows well. Our last name is a strong 2 syllable M name.
So far we have
[name]Annalise[/name] [name]Marie[/name] (which is close to [name]Anne[/name] [name]Frank[/name]'s real name. An incredibly admirable woman in history, but we want our daughter to have a unique name with her own family history)
[name]Hadley[/name] [name]Marian[/name]
I don’t mean to muddy the waters, but if you like [name]Annabelle[/name]/[name]Annabel[/name], you may like [name]Annabel[/name] [name]Mary[/name].
I think your pick of [name]Hadley[/name] [name]Marian[/name] Maykay flows really well, and with [name]Annalise[/name], I guess I picture a shorter middle name. Hmm…
They’re not short like [name]May[/name], but what about [name]Annalise[/name] [name]Maren[/name] or [name]Annalise[/name] [name]Margot[/name]? ([name]Maren[/name] and [name]Margot[/name] may be stretching it, though, because while they have the [name]Mar[/name] beginning, they don’t have [name]Mary[/name]'s roots.)
[name]Mary[/name] variants :
[name]Maia[/name]
Maite
[name]Malia[/name]
[name]Mamie[/name]
[name]Manon[/name] (MAH-noh - the last n is barely pronounced)
[name]Mara[/name]
[name]Mariah[/name]
Mariamne
[name]Marianne[/name]/a
[name]Marielle[/name]/a
[name]Mariette[/name]/a
[name]Marigold[/name]
[name]Marika[/name]
[name]Marilou[/name]
[name]Marilyn[/name]
[name]Marina[/name]/e
[name]Marisa[/name]
[name]Marissa[/name]
[name]Martha[/name] (not strictly a variant, but I think it’s similar enough to count)
[name]Masha[/name]
[name]Mele[/name]
[name]Mia[/name]
[name]Miriam[/name]
[name]Molly[/name] (a diminutive)
[name]Rosemary[/name].
Why not do what people of Jewish ancestry do and just use the initial “M”? Still honors [name]Mary[/name] but does not get too close to your last name? And I like [name]Annelise[/name] a lot!
I think [name]Annalise[/name] [name]Mary[/name] flows perfectly well - or did you not want to use [name]Mary[/name] itself? For [name]Hadley[/name] (because [name]Hadley[/name] [name]Mary[/name] doesn’t really work), I do like [name]Hadley[/name] [name]Marian[/name], also [name]Hadley[/name] [name]Miriam[/name] and [name]Hadley[/name] [name]Maria[/name].
