Yeah, I am sometimes afraid to try to say breed names out loud to anybody who already knows them. I've sounded silly more than once!
I know that in French, they would accent the last syllable, the N would be sort of swallowed, and the S would be silent. But most Americans would not say things with a French accent, so if we tried to say it how the French do, we would probably draw funny looks.
The first time I heard a chicken breeder say it, she pronounced it like the audio receiver company Marantz. So I have learned to say it that way, but I don't know if it's correct.
Yeah, you're right, Marans is French so no -s sound at the ending. I looked it up a while back. They are named after a town in France, and the town is pronounced Mare-uhn, but with a French kind of 'chr' sound instead of just an r, and the swallowed n sound as you described. I usually just say Mare-ann or Muh-ran because I don't think about it, but if I wanted to show off, Machr-uhn all the way.
As for Ameraucana, well, that breed name is a combination of two words (American Araucana), hence the very specific spelling. As far as I know, Araucana is pronounced Air-aw-cah-nah, so I just add an American 'Amer' to the beginning, which combines well with the beginning 'air-' sound in Araucana (Am-air-aw-cah-nah). At least, until someone knowledgeable in those breeds corrects me, that's how I pronounce them.
I love the baby pictures, y'all! It's killing me resisting the urge to just order a few chickies this spring... Congrats on the new arrivals and good luck to the expecting!
e and nervous already. 
