# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/62 "2021-06-23T13:14:26Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Because to English people, Morris is a surname. Same in the US, which is the preferred spelling for both given and surnames. There are quite a few Englishmen on this very, very long list: > **[Morris (given name)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morris_(given_name)?wprov=sfti1)** > > Morris is a given name in English and other languages. Notable persons with that name include: ---
**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 23, 2021, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/63 "2021-06-23T13:17:46Z")
I’ve known two people (Americans) with the surname Fitzmaurice; both of them pronounced it “fitz-morris.” As the surname’s origins are English and Irish, the pronunciation now doesn’t surprise me (though it did when I first heard it), given what’s been described in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/64 "2021-06-23T14:43:19Z")
> [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Same in the US, which is the preferred spelling for both given and surnames. There are quite a few Englishmen on this very, very long list: It is unusual enough in England to be noteworthy. If you ask an English person to write down the first name pronounced ‘Morris’, they’ll write ‘Maurice’. ---
**Author:** ![APB](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@APB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/APB)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/65 "2021-06-23T15:00:38Z")
> [@eburacum\_45](#): > > Maurice Micklewhite disagrees. And to any Brit the idea that he was ever “more EES” Micklewhite would be hilariously improbable. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/66 "2021-06-23T17:01:37Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Because to English people, Morris is a surname. Or a dance! ---
**Author:** ![ashtayk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@ashtayk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashtayk)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2021, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/67 "2021-06-23T20:23:31Z")
The Houston Texans used to have LB called Bernard Pollard. The commentators pronounced it as “Ber-NAARD POLL-urd” and the English would have pronounced it as “BERN-erd poll-AARD” ---
**Author:** ![the\_art\_of\_rolling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/59ef9b/32.png) [@the\_art\_of\_rolling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_art_of_rolling)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 9:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/68 "2021-06-24T09:12:09Z")
Not me or any English person I have ever met. Not that I have ever heard of mr. Pollard but to me the pronunciation would be BERnard POLLaard ---
**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 24, 2021, 9:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/69 "2021-06-24T09:33:18Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > Or a dance! Or a chair! ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2021, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/70 "2021-06-24T16:19:04Z")
The late Belgian cartoonist Maurice de Bevere, creator of Lucky Luke, used “Morris” as his pen name. He adopted it as an American version of his given name. If I’m saying his name in French, I’d probably pronounce both “Morris” and “Maurice” the same way, something like /mɔʁis/ or rather /mɔʁɪs/ in my dialect. If I were to say his name in English, I’d probably use the common English pronunciation of “Morris”. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum\_45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum_45/32/3385_2.png) [@eburacum\_45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum_45)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/71 "2021-06-25T07:06:47Z")
> [@the\_art\_of\_rolling](#): > > but to me the pronunciation would be BERnard POLLaard All the English people I know say Bernud. The last vowel is very short, and sometimes sounds like Bern-ed. No real stress on either the first or second syllable either, but maybe more stress on the first. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2021, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790/72 "2021-06-25T10:52:04Z")
> [@UDS1](#): > > I think the class of people in England who still have valets call them “vallets” and not “vallays”. But as I am not myself a member of that class I am willing to be corrected by any Doper who is. I’m not of that class 🧐, nor is Stephen Fry, but he _was_ one, and he [pronounced it](https://youtu.be/OAG8K31ldZc?t=63) val-lit. Now, that _is_ a period piece, but if the pronunciation has shifted, I think the show would have reflected that. Also, it’s what they still call [themselves](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BdXagi_PXXU). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-queens-english-pronunciation-of-maurice/944790.md?page=3)