Menzies
{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges.Template:Fact
Derivation and historyEdit
The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived from the Norman name Mesnières, from the town of Mesnières-en-Bray in Normandy.<ref name =hey>David Hey, Clan Menzies website</ref><ref>BBC Alba - Litir do Luchd-ionnsachaidh (554)</ref><ref>Family names and family history, pp 37-38</ref>
PronunciationEdit
The traditional Scottish pronunciation of the name is Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, reflecting the spelling of the name as {{#invoke:Lang|lang}}, using the letter Template:Big (yogh). The current spelling arose when yogh fell out of use in the Scots language and was replaced with the similar-looking tailed variant (<math>\mathfrak{z}</math>) of the letter Template:Angle bracket.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
However, outside Scotland the name is often given the pronunciation Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell, reflecting the current spelling.
A Scottish limerick plays on the traditional pronunciation:
<poem>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!"Template:Efn</poem>
The second and fifth lines are pronounced as though the <z> were a <{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}>, making "thing is" and "sting is", to rhyme with "Menzies". "Wasp" rhymes with "gasp" in Scots.
People with the surnameEdit
- Alan W. C. Menzies (1877–1966), Scots-born chemist and professor of chemistry at Princeton University
- Alex Menzies, Scottish football player
- Alex Menzies (footballer, born 1882) (1882–1964), Scottish international football player
- Archibald Menzies (1754–1842), British medic and biologist; ship's doctor and naturalist on board George Vancouver's voyage to the North Pacific
- Beryl Menzies (married name Beryl Fowler, 1881–1963), English painter
- Cameron Menzies (born 1989), Scottish darts player
- Charles Menzies (anthropologist)
- Charles Menzies (Royal Marines officer) (1783–1866), Royal Marines officer
- Danni Menzies, British presenter of A Place in the Sun
- David Menzies (died 1936), Scottish football player and manager
- Diane Menzies, New Zealand landscape architect
- Douglas Menzies (1907–1974), former Justice of the High Court of Australia
- Frederick Menzies (1875–1949), British physician
- Gavin Menzies (1937–2020), British retired submarine captain and author
- George Menzies (1930–2016), New Zealand rugby league footballer
- Gina Menzies, Irish media personality
- Heather Menzies (1949–2017), Canadian actress
- Henry Menzies (rugby union) (1867–1938), Scottish rugby player
- Hugh Menzies (1857–1925), Australian politician
- Ivan Menzies (1896–1985), singer and actor
- James Menzies (disambiguation)
- John Menzies (disambiguation)
- Karen Menzies (born 1962), Australian footballer
- Karl Menzies (born 1977), Australian cyclist
- Mark Menzies (born 1971), British politician
- Neal Menzies (born 1959), Australian professor of soil science
- Peter Menzies Jr., Australian cinematographer
- Ralph Leroy Menzies (born 1958), American murderer
- Robert Menzies (1894–1978), Australia's longest-serving prime minister
- Sadie Menzies (1914–1996), founder member of the Revolutionary Workers Group
- Sharon Menzies, 21st century New Zealand financier
- Steve Menzies (born 1973), Australian rugby league player
- Stewart Menzies (1890–1968), Head of British Secret Intelligence Service 1939–1952
- Ted Menzies (born 1952), Canadian politician
- Tobias Menzies (born 1974), British actor
- William Cameron Menzies (1896–1957), American film director
See alsoEdit
- Clan Menzies, Scottish clan
- Mingus (disambiguation), pronounced similarly