Mireille Messier: Bonjour. My name is Mireille Messier. It's a French name. I was born in Montreal and I now live in Toronto, Canada. Mireille is a name that was invented by a French poet called Mistral a long time ago. He told the church that it meant Mary in Provencal, but actually it doesn't. He just made it up. Mireille is a two syllable name. First, the easy part. Mi. As in do, re, mi. Mi. The second part is where it gets hard. Reille. That sound doesn't exist in English and doesn't have an equivalent, but it's pretty close to ray, like a ray of sunshine but with a little added ya at the end. Reille. If you speak a little French, my name rhymes with Sollier. Mireille.

My last name, Messier, is a typical French surname. If you're a hockey fan, you probably know Mark Messier, and no, we're not related. The E-R at the end is pronounced A, and that's stereotypically Canadian, eh. Messier. I know my name is hard to pronounce in English. When I travel to England with my soon to be husband and introduced myself to my future in-laws, they stared at me blankly, sighed, and quickly declared we'll just have to find another name for you dear. Hmm. Mireille Messier.