English and Australian phonics have a very short /o/ sound which doesn’t exist in most North American accents. If you’ve ever heard a British person say “lorry”, it’s that /o/ sound which we use in
Molly. Maali on the other hand would have a longer /ah/ sound, like the /a/ in “fast”. It would be indistinguishable from
Marley but distinctly different to
Molly.
https://nanowrimo.org/participants/christine-seaforth-finch
http://christineseaforthfinch.blogspot.com/