Maureen O’Connor, former San Diego mayor (1986-1992), was charged with money laundering in federal court earlier this month.
I don’t know much about the situation, but I was intrigued to learn that Maureen had 12 siblings, including a twin sister with a very similar name — Mavourneen.
(The other siblings are Patrick, Michael, Dennis, Sharon, Dianne, Colleen, Sheila, Timothy, Karen, Thomas and Shawn.)
The names Maureen and Mavourneen (pronounced muh-VOOR-neen) are both Irish, but they have different etymologies:
Maureen is an anglicized form of Máirín, which is a pet form of Máire, which — like the English name Mary — is based on the French name Marie, which comes from the Latin name Maria. In ancient Rome, Maria was originally a feminine form of Marius, but it was later popularized as a version of the Hebrew name Miriam. The meaning of Miriam is unknown, though hypothesized definitions abound: “beloved,” “rebellious,” “strong sea,” “bitter sea,” “drop of the sea,” etc.
Mavourneen is an anglicized form of the Irish phrase mo mhúirnín, meaning “my darling.” It began as a term of endearment, but morphed into a given name probably when the song “Kathleen Mavourneen” (1837) became popular in the mid-1800s. (A number of the 19th-century Mavourneens I’ve tracked down were named “Kathleen Mavourneen.” Many of the 20th century Mavourneens too, actually.)
In terms of popularity, Maureen was one of the top 100 baby names in the U.S. from 1947 until 1954. Mavourneen, on the other hand, has never cracked the U.S. top 1,000.
And now the main question: What do you think of the names Maureen and Mavourneen for twins? Cute? Too close? Somewhere in between?
[Related post: How Similar Should Twin Names Be?]
Yes, I think they are WAY too close in sound! This isn’t a cute twin set to me. (Woah, big Irish family).
The meanings go great together through: “beloved” and “my darling”.
That was my first impression too — a bit too close. I first spotted Mavourneen’s name in an article about Maureen, and my immediate reaction was, “This must be some sort of typo.” Makes me wonder how much confusion these names have caused over the years.