How do you pronounce an English name and the name of a book?

I’ve never heard Maurice pronounced any other way than as Morris. I would pronounce the title of the book the same way as it is the name of a character in the book.

@flutherother Thank you very much. I may be wrong, but I think most Americans say moh-REES with the stress on the second syllable.

I have always pronounced it the French way, accent on the second syllable, like Maurice Chevalier.

And there you have the conundrum. @flutherother is from the UK, and @canidmajor is from the US. We are divided by a common language.

@Hawaii_Jake I’ve known people in Britain who are named Maurice and pronounce it Morris as has been said. I would pronounce it Moh-REES though, too.

I have always pronounced that name MAW-REECE.

I would say maw-rees.

Morris is mor-ris.

I wouldn’t even think to pronounce Maurice as Morris.

If you go to YouTube, look up “Maurice (1987) – The Story of Maurice”. The man narrating is British and studied E. M. Forester. I’m guessing that his pronunciation of “Maurice” is correct.

Let me add…the British actors interviewed in that video clip also pronounce it “Morris”. So, it’s pronounced differently around the world.

@Pied_Pfeffer I agree. As I said above, in England it’s pronounced “Morris” whereas in the States, we generally say Maw-REES.

@janbb You and I could get on a long conversation on the differences of UK vs.US pronunciations. ;)

Yes, the book “Maurice” is pronounced “Morris”, which seems to be the more common pronunciation in England, even if the name is French in origin (the name “Morris” has a few different sources, one of which is the same source as “Maurice”, i.e. the Latin name “Mauritius”).

I’d say Morris. My friend’s mom was named Laurice and it sounded like Lorris.

Hannibal Lecter pronounces Clarice as Claw REECE, and that’s why I pronounce it as Mo REECE. ;D

However, I once goofed up the pronunciation at an establishment of fine dining.

When I asked Maurice our server to fetch me some water, the insufferable buffoon instead brought me more rice! ;P

@Brian1946 I once goofed up the pronunciation at an establishment of fine dining.

I agree with that. Maurice actually looks quite refined :)

The definitive answer is here

Some people call me the space cowboy, yeah
Some call me the gangster of love
Some people call me Maurice
‘Cause I speak of the pompatus of love

I think of Maurice as being a French name (I have no idea if it originated in France) and so I’m guessing Maw-rees would be the French pronunciation. Maybe jellies here who speak French Can correct me on that. In America we tend to stick close to French pronunciations.

I don’t know what the English usually do in that regard? I think fillet is pronounced fil-let in the UK rather than fil-lay for example.

@zenvelo Interesting, I always thought it was garbling ‘properties of love’. We learn something new every day!

MoReese or Morris.

I’ve heard British announcers pronounce the name of Maurice Gibb as “Morris.” Here in the US, I’ve always heard it pronounced as “Maw-REES.” I guess it’s like how here, we pronounce “Garage” as “gah-RAHG” and in the UK, they call it a “GAH-rej” (rhymes with “Carriage”).

I’ve wondered the same thing, @Hawaii_Jake. I’m with @janbb and the others who say mor-REESE for Maurice. I guess Chevalier is always there at the edge of my mind when I see the name. I’ll bet people who have it get sick of having to answer the question. That would be enough to deter me from conferring it on a child.

But at least you can ask someone. I’m always irritated by authors who give their characters peculiar names, or simply names unfamiliar to their likely audience, without offering a clue to how to say them—especially names that belong to an invented world and culture, so you can’t even consult a member of the language group and find out how their people say it.

(Isn’t it funny when they make a movie from the book, and various characters pronounce key names differently? Gandalf, for instance—we hear both ‘Gandolf’ and ‘Gandalf’ with the second ‘a’ as in ‘alpha’ or ‘Ralph.’)

@Jeruba, isn’t that the beauty of different languages/accents?