pronunciation

people say my name Moree is pronounced Moore-ray .I don't use an accent mark over the E and my husbands family pronounces it Moore-ee. Is there a correct way to say it according to the spelling? Moree. thank you.

[Anglika]

It probably depends on what its source is. It could be a version of "Murray" or a version of a French name. Do you have any idea of which it might be?

[rewboss]

With family names, I'd say it would depend on family tradition. If your husband's family says "more-ee", that's the way it's pronounced -- after all, it is their name.

Sometimes people do try to "posh up" their names by giving them a sort of pseudo-French pronunciation. I'm guessing you're from the States, where this tendency seems (at least in my experience, but I've never studied this) to be more prevalent. This is seen in ordinary nouns like "garage" (which retains its French pronunciation in US English, but not in British English) and "lingerie", which many Americans mispronounce as "lonjer-ay" even though the French pronunciation is actually "lonzher-ee".

Your name looks French, so people may be assuming that the final syllable is pronounced to rhyme with "café". Don't stand for it: Family tradition says "more-ee", so "more-ee" it is.

It reminds of that scene in Frasier, when Frasier Crane has embarrassed himself horribly on live radio. His brother, Niles, informs him that his (Niles's) wife has insisted on ordering new stationery with their family name altered to "Crané", pronounced "crah-nay".