Menzies


Menzies is a Scottish surname. It is probably derived, like its Gaelic form Méinnearach, from the Norman name Mesnières from the town of Mesnières-en-Bray in Normandy.

Pronunciation

The name is traditionally pronounced — and still is in Scotland — , since the English letter was used as a substitute for the now obsolete English letter in the Scots language. However, many now do not know this, and today it is often pronounced as if it were an English word and hence is often mispronounced . A Scottish limerick plays on the traditional pronunciation:
There wis a young lassie named Menzies,
That askit her aunt whit this thenzies.
Said her aunt wi a gasp,
"Ma dear, it's a wasp,
An you're haudin the end whaur the stenzies!"

The second and fifth lines are pronounced as though the were a <ȝ>, making "thing is" and "sting is", to rhyme with "Menzies". "Wasp" rhymes with "gasp" in Scots.

As a surname

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