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Arabic 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
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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.
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I would pronounce Nejat as Neh-JAHT.I would be unsure how to pronounce Maryam, but probably would say MAHR-yem.I would pronounce Mariam as MERRY-um.I have not looked at the other posters' answers, by the way.
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I would guess, at first glance:Neh-jahtMar-ee-am
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I am Dutch, and this is how I would pronounce the names that you mentioned:
- Nejat: nay-YAHT- Maryam: mahr-YAHM or MAH-ree-yahm- Mariam: MAH-ree-yahm
I hope that helped - good luck with everything. :)
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Nejat = Nuh-JAETMaryam = MAIR-ee-imAE = like the a in apple
AI = like a in MaryWhen 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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Nejat I'd say NAY-jaht
Maryam I'd say halfway between MAYR-ee-yam and MAYR-yam
Mariam I'd say MAYR-ee-amAlso if you don't mind me asking what are your other kids' names?

This message was edited 7/22/2010, 11:16 AM

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Our other children are Alexander, Dominic, Elijah, Amira, Jerome and Yasmina.
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Knee-jat or I really wanna say Knee-gee-t
and I pronunce both Maryam and Mariam has Mery am but I prefer Mariam
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If I read them, assuming they are of Arabic origin:Nejat - I would pronounce this NEH-zhat. (zh = soft j)Maryam or Mariam - I would pronounce both of them MAH-ree-ahm.I'm from Germany if that helps.

This message was edited 7/22/2010, 10:24 AM

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Nejat: Neh-JAHT (soft J, I don't know how to express that, unlike the hard J in "jet")Maryam: MAHR-yumor Mariam: MARE-ee-um (Similar to the more common Miriam)
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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.
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I think I was biased knowing ahead of time they were Arabic :)
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I know a Mariam and she prn her name like MAR-yam and we both live in Sweden, but I would prn it the same in English. I would prn Maryam pretty much the same. of the two Maryam is my favorite.I don't know how to prn Nejat though... NEY-aht or something..I dunno..
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Nejat - Nay-haht
Maryam - MAR-yam
Mariam - Mar-ee-um
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I'd say them as....Nejat: ney-ZHAT, sort of a slurred, sliding jMaryam: MAR-eeumMariam: MARY-umI do apologise if those are incorrect, but they would be my first guesses!
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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).
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