I think it's closer to Mal-uh-kee (like you suggest, kind of similar to 'tragedy'. To rhyme with 'lullabye', it would be spelled Malachai.

Now you can listen to Frank McCourt, Pulitzer prize-winning author of "Angela's Ashes," offer you 200 Irish names meanings for your baby girl or boy. Make sure your speakers are turned up as Frank helps with the pronunciation of each one and gives you the meaning and an associated tale in his own inimitable way.


http://www.babynamesofireland.com/pages/boy-n...

Malachy (English) (pron."mala + kee")

I'm far from a biblical scholar, but it sure looks like a variant spelling of 'Malachi', which in my part of the world, the few times I've heard it actually spoken, rhymes with tragedy. But proper names are notoriously variable, so the person so named has last word, and idiosyncratic pronunciations are always possible.

@ bones

Malachy/Malachi in the Irish sense is pronounced Mal-uh-kee with the stress on the first syllable. It is derived from MAOLSEACHLAINN.

slainte

I heard spoken "Mal-uh-kee" too. (Northern Ireland)

Thank you all!

@Ruairidh: I think it's St. Malachy (Maol m'Aedog Ua Morgair). His Latein name Malachias is derived from an Old Testament prophet (malachias, hebr. Maleachi).

Thanks for the info on the Irish name (Malachy); I had wondered that too.

However, as far as the book of the Bible (Malachi) goes, I've never heard it pronounced with anything other than a long I, like the name of the letter in English, or the Greek letter chi, or the mineral malachite. And that's the only choice in any of my dictionaries (NOAD, AHD, Random House unabridged).


>It is derived from MAOLSEACHLAINN.

Though that piece of information may not be quite as helpful as you seem to think. (-;

>Ruairidh
>Maol m'Aedog Ua Morgair

Okay, I give up, how do you pronounce any of those? 'Slainte' is the absolute limit of my Gaelic; I've tried reading explanations of the phonetics but they always leave me basically baffled.

@Morgan
The name Malachy in Irish is drived from MAOLSEACHLAINN or MAELEACHLAINN which both mean "Servant/Devotee of St Seachnall" (Bishop and confessor, b. 372 or 373; d. at Dunshaughlin, 27 Nov., 457), who was the priciple Bishop of St Patrick... in Irish the name only appears in this form. Related names:

LANTY
LEACHLAINN
MALACHY
SEACHNALL
SECHNALL

You may be right about the Jewish form of the name... but I believe St Malachy is a relatively new saint. "Maol m'Aedog" is old Irish, not ancient Irish for latin MALACHIAS. I know this is slightly off subject, but am sure you'll agree, still very interesting!

@hm

Sorry, I did mean to explain that in Gaelic the vowels are pronounced differently from any Latin based language... All vowels have a short and long version. The "I" is pronounced as "EE". There are also various rules (not to be gone into in this forum) for position, conjunction, and lenation/asperation... suffice to say MAOLSEACHLAINN or MAELEACHLAINN is pronounced Mal-UH-kee'n or Mal-uh-kee depending on distict...

Non Gaels have problems with vowels, dipthongs and eclipsis... so don't worry about it ;-)

sorry typo meant LENITION not LENATION

slainte

@Ruairidh: But it should be MAOLSHEACHLAINN...
as in: ".... insealbhaithe Dhál gCais agus na mBrianach ina ndiaidh - sa bhliain 981 (recte 982), iarna thochailt ó na préamhacha aníos ag Maolsheachlainn Rí Éireann."

@Michael

Correct in that case, but that spelling is refering to a King, not the root of the name... after all, both Gaelige and Gaelic nouns have many spelling changes, which arise from clan, local, even country (such as Gaelic spoken in Nova Scotia)... MAOLSEACHLAINN or MAELEACHLAINN can both be found on SMO... Sabhal Mòr Ostaig