Tuesday, June 05, 2007

Moan say what?

Those who know me (I'm talking friends, not family) probably remember the first time we were introduced and heard my name spoken. OK, you probably don't remember anything except that it was very strange, different, and hard to pronounce.

Montserrat

How do you say it? Mon see rat? Mont say rat? You see why I usually just prefer to tell people my nickname. Montse. That in itself is hard to pronounce, but it is easier to remember, you just take the rat off and say moan see. You know, you moan when you see me coming and say "Oh, no! Not her again!"

When I was little and my siblings and I would get in arguments they'd call me monster rat because that's what my name spelled if you switched the t and s. In fact, that's what was on my Costco card for a whole year Monsterrat. What's worse is I didn't notice it until 5 months after I had the card!

So once and for all, here is how you pronounce my name. For those who speak English it's easier to say Mawn-ser-RAHT. You can hear the English version pronounced here. The proper way to say it is mon-seh-RAHT. This link was the best I could find to hear it pronounced correctly. It is actually pronouncing the full name of a Catalan singer so just listen to her first name.

I love my name. It is a family name reminding me of my Catalan heritage. It's just not a common name for the states so I've had to deal with mispronunciations all my life. But it makes hearing my name pronounced correctly that much more gratifying. I really appreciate it when friends (and family!) take the time and effort to pronounce it correctly.

And now for your viewing pleasure, and a good laugh, you can see what a hard spot I put poor Lara of The Lazy Organizer in when I won the May drawing for Smart Habit Saturdays. Click here to watch the drawing. I must say, Lara did a darn good job of pronouncing my name. That's the closest anyone has gotten having never heard it before. Cheers to Lara!

And in case you are wondering where Montserrat comes from, it is a mountain north of Barcelona, Spain. You can see a slide show of photos here.

12 comments:

Julie Lybbert said...

Oh, THANK YOU!!!! I've been wondering for a long time if I had it right and have been meaning to ask you. I was pronouncing it the "english" way. Now I'll know how to pronounce it correctly. I'm pretty sure. (The second link didn't work for me, but you explained it pretty clearly.) I also like knowing where the name comes from.

"Moan say what" - LOL!!!!

An Ordinary Mom said...

What a fun post! Now I just need to meet you so you can tell me how I do with my pronunciation :)!!

Vanessa and Rebecca said...

The mountain was also named after "The Black Virgin". The monastary at the top of Mont Monsterrat is beautiful and Monste well deserves the name.

Jennifer @ Fruit of My Hands said...

There is a little girl at the grammar school named Montserrat, and goes by Montse. When I was covering for her teacher one day, she asked me how I knew how to say her name the "Spanish way" because I was the only white person she'd ever met who said it right.

I thought of you the other day when I saw Montserrat is actually in the top 1000 girls names for 2006. I had never heard it before until I met you.

Mrs. O said...

I guess I just thought it was an internet name. How cool to have such a beautiful, and original name.

Have you ever been there? Do your siblings have similar Catalan-inspired names?

Mrs. O said...

Oh! and congrats on winning the drawing. Double cool Tuesday.

Montserrat said...

Well, one brother has the Catalan name of Pere (PE-duh, Peter in English) the rest have very NORMAL names: Vanessa, Jonathan, and Rebecca. Go Figure!

Anonymous said...

the pronounciation of your name in one of the links sounds very french. i swear it does. or at least it's said with a french accent.

congrats on the win!

i like your name. i like nestle's name too. i've heard the name PE-duh used around here too. i thought it was strange because it's not french (but then we are close to the spanish border).

Anonymous said...

second thoughts, no. that doesn't sound like a french accent. the french pronounce their r's differently. nice though.

Lei said...

I love your name... it is beautiful!

Lara said...

Thank you for the kind words. Now I'm not quite so embarrassed about mispronouncing it and it is lovely!

Peculiar Blogs said...

I have been wondering how to pronounce your name. Thanks for sharing!! :-)