Another plea for pronounciation help

[jdejong]

My husband is Dutch and while our first son doesn't have a very Dutch name (Ansel), we'd like this baby to have a Dutch name but are struggling to find one that works well in both English and Dutch. We are all set with a girl name (one we'd chosen years ago), but the boys' names are tough, as many we find are too difficult considering we live in the US right now. We also don't like to share baby names before the birth, so I can't ask any friends or family whether they could pronounce a name we're considering, but thought I'd ask all of you

How would you pronounce: Maurits

I know it's a hard question to answer on line, but can you tell me what word you'd rhyme the first syllable with? That is, your first reaction if you were a teacher on the first day of school? Thank you so much!!

[lotusma]

more-its

[rparker]

More-eats probably, maybe more-ee?

[RedOakMomma]

MORE-eetz

[holothuroidea]

I'd pronounce it like the first syllable in the name Maurice.

And then I'd be singing "The Joker" (Steve Miller Band) all day long.

[jdejong]

Yeah, okay, thanks for the quick replies, that's what I was afraid of...

In Dutch it rhymes with "Cow-ritz". My husband's name is Laurens, and it suffers the same problem here.... in Dutch, the "Lau" is like "loud", but here people say "lore"-ens instead. And although he doesn't care about what's happened to his name, we both would want Maurits pronounced correctly.... something to think about anyways.

Thank you!!!

[sheashea]

I have to agree that most people will pronounce it more-eetz or more-itz.

I was a big fan of Dutch player Arjen Robben during the World Cup and I love the name Arjen, although it would probably be mispronounced too.

I think people get used to names, though. You just have to politely correct them.

[jdejong]

Yeah, I liked Arjen too, but we're shying away from names with a j in them for pronouciation reasons as well. Plus, someone told my husband that they thought Maurits was a girl's name, so we're back to the drawing board... thanks!!