# The Queen's English pronunciation of "Maurice." **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 21, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790 "2021-06-21T19:40:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/1 "2021-06-21T19:40:18Z")
As I was watching a special on the Bee Gees, I was quite surprised at the pronunciation of the name of Maurice Gibb. Without knowing any better, I believe that most Americans would pronounce the name “more EES”. However, they all pronounced it “MORE is”, the way that Americans would pronounce the name Morris. Was the Gibb pronunciation the common form in the UK, Australia, etc or was this unique to the Gibb brothers? ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/2 "2021-06-21T19:52:35Z")
I don’t use either of those pronunciations. Here I’m south Texas, it’s sounds like MAW rees. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/3 "2021-06-21T19:55:07Z")
I’m in Oklahoma and I’ve heard it that way as well. But never “MORE is”. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/4 "2021-06-21T19:56:53Z")
There was an English film from 1987, “Maurice,” and my recollection is that it was prononced “MORE-is” in that film, and in England, generally. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/5 "2021-06-21T19:58:55Z")
I’m an American, from the Seattle area. I pronounce that name “more REECE”. Here is a web site with a ton of clips from British speakers pronouncing the name. (Just click the \>| button to skip from clip to clip, there are almost 150 clips.) > **[Improve Your English Pronunciation](https://youglish.com/pronounce/maurice/english/uk)** > > When words sound different in isolation vs. in a sentence, look up the pronunciation first in a dictionary, then use https://youglish.com The only thing I can conclude is that it is pronounced either way in the UK, despite the site claiming it is definitively pronounced like “Morris”. My WAG is that it depends on what part of the UK the speaker is from. ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/6 "2021-06-21T20:01:11Z")
Should be MAW rees . . . 'cause he speaks of the pompatus of love. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/7 "2021-06-21T20:06:00Z")
UK English also stresses the first syllable of certain other French-derived names (“BER-nerd,” “JAIR-erd”) and loanwords (“CAFF-ay,” “BUFF-ay”). ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2021, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/9 "2021-06-21T22:25:19Z")
I had an uncle “MORE is” and _he_ had an uncle “MORE is,” which is funny as we’re all Irish with some German tossed in. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/10 "2021-06-22T00:52:03Z")
My impression is that the “Morris” pronunication is dominant in BrE, HibE and AusE, and in fact AmE speakers are the only ones that I have ever heard use the “MorEESE” pronunciation. AmE tends to retain a “frenchified” pronuncation of French-origin words where BrE anglicises them - “garazh” versus “garridge”; “filay” versus “fillet”, and so on. This may be an instance of that phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/11 "2021-06-22T00:53:14Z")
I’ve only heard It pronounced exactly the same as Morris. But the only Maurice’s I’ve known are NOT native born Americans. Both immigrants from the Commonwealth. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/12 "2021-06-22T01:53:06Z")
It’s pronounced Morris, unless you’re French or think you have to pretend to be. ---
**Author:** ![glowacks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/glowacks/32/5548_2.png) [@glowacks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glowacks)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/13 "2021-06-22T01:56:25Z")
> [@ratatoskK](#): > > unless you’re French or think you have to pretend to be. Which the newly independent Americans wanted to be more than they wanted to be British, which is why I presume many words derived from French have a much more French pronunciation in America, as mentioned above. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/14 "2021-06-22T02:10:18Z")
I’ve only ever heard the name pronounced “more-EES”. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/15 "2021-06-22T02:28:12Z")
My stepfather, named Morris, refused to pay the neighbor girl when, for a fundraiser, she ordered his personalized Christmas cards with his name spelled as Maurice. She most likely asked her mother how to spell his name and Maurice came out. He said his mother would have a fit seeing his name spelled as such. ---
**Author:** ![md-2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9d8465/32.png) [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/16 "2021-06-22T04:48:44Z")
One of my uncles, and my great grandfather, were named Maurice and from Britain. It was always pronounced “Morris” there, whereas thanks to Maurice Chevalier and in Canada, Maurice “Rocket” Richard, (and later, Steve Miller) we all think of the name in North America as “Maw-rees”. Recall that’s how the astronaut pronounced his name in _Northern Exposure_ too. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/17 "2021-06-22T05:32:39Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > My impression is that the “Morris” pronunication is dominant in BrE, HibE and AusE, and in fact AmE speakers are the only ones that I have ever heard use the “MorEESE” pronunciation. You should probably check out the link I provided earlier then, if that’s your impression. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/18 "2021-06-22T06:07:36Z")
Have known a number of people called Morris/Maurice but most I haven’t seen how they spell their name. Without exception they were referred to as Mor-is, unless you were deliberately winding them up by using the more pretentious Mor-ees with a faux froggy accent. Of course the authentic [Strine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strine) pronunciation of either is Morry (rhyming with lorry) ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 6:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/19 "2021-06-22T06:14:57Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > You should probably check out the link I provided earlier then, if that’s your impression. Links me to a YouTube piece on Hitler and a ton of clickbait, but no recordings of people pronouncing “Morris”. On the other hand, it does include an IPA transcription, which does correspond to my perception as a native BrE speaker - that I’ve never heard of a UK pronunciation other than with the stress on the the first syllable and shorter, flatter vowels than seem to be more usual in the US. MO-rris it is. ---
**Author:** ![UDS1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/e47774/32.png) [@UDS1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS1)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/20 "2021-06-22T06:21:08Z")
> [@Atamasama](#): > > You should probably check out the link I provided earlier then, if that’s your impression. I haven’t watched all 147 videos. But what I’ve seen so far involves MorEES being used with respect to particular individuals named “Maurice” who, by and large, are not British - e.g. the first video refers to Emil Maurice, who was German; presumably that is how he pronounced his own name, and of course when talking about any individual named Maurice you should adopt the pronunciation used by that individual. Similarly BrE speakers talk about “MorEES Chevalier”, because that is the pronunciation used by Chevalier himself. (They also pronounce “Chevalier” in the French style; it doesn’t follow that that is the pronunciation of the English word “chevalier”.) But that tells us nothing about how BrE speakers named Maurice pronounce their own names, or about the common or default pronunciation used by BrE speakers with regard to, e.g., a British character in a novel who has that name. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2021, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/21 "2021-06-22T06:38:38Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > Links me to a YouTube piece on Hitler and a ton of clickbait, but no recordings of people pronouncing “Morris”. On the other hand, it does include an IPA transcription, which does correspond to my perception as a native BrE speaker - that I’ve never heard of a UK pronunciation other than with the stress on the the first syllable and shorter, flatter vowels than seem to be more usual in the US. MO-rris it is. The link has 147 different pronunciations of “Maurice” from British speakers. About half of them pronounce it like “More-ees”. If you’ve never heard of a UK pronunciation like that, you didn’t pay attention to what you were watching. You wait a few seconds and you’ll hear the name pronounced. Click the \>| button like I instructed and you’ll go to another video. And another, 147 of them if you want to listen to them all. I mean, sure you can just ignore them if you like, but it’s not of much use in a discussion to ignore evidence in front of you. > [@UDS1](#): > > But that tells us nothing about how BrE speakers named Maurice pronounce their own names, or about the common or default pronunciation used by BrE speakers with regard to, e.g., a British character in a novel who has that name. You said before… > [@UDS1](#): > > in fact AmE speakers are the only ones that I have ever heard use the “MorEESE” pronunciation. Well, in fact you can no longer say that, since you have heard non-Americans using the pronunciation. You said nothing about using the pronunciation to refer to **themselves**. As an American, if someone said that their name “Maurice” is pronounced like “Morris”, I’m going to pronounce it like “Morris”. I will respect what they tell me. Just as someone named William wants to be called “Bill”, I’ll call him “Bill”. But if I see the name Maurice, I will assume it is pronounced the way I’ve heard it my entire life. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790.md?page=2)