How would you pronounce ...

Mei is also Dutch for May (the month) and pronounced similarly. That's how I'd pronounce it.

To be fair it sounds as though maybe the OPs daughter will indeed have a different heritage since her name will be unusual and possibly difficult to pronounce.
Mei would seem intuitively the best to me OP. I think it's a name that everyone recognises and knows how to spell. I would assume Chinese heritage but I wouldn't be shocked to meet someone without that heritage but with that spelling.
Mey I think looks clunkier and less obvious and just not as attractive. Also I would look at it and wonder whether I should be saying My instead of May.
Of the "a" versions May is a million times better than Mai or Mae but if you feel strongly that it needs the M E start then Mei is definitely your best bet.

OP, no one's being judgy. You asked for people's opinions, and you have a pretty definitive answer of how the names you want to call your daughter will be received.

And the answer is not great. Not because people are judgy. It's exactly what your daughter is going to encounter. A lifetime of having to correct, "no, not May" and an assumption she is Chinese when people see Mei written down.

If the full name (which you helpfully won't reveal ) starts M-e, then it kind of depends what the rest is, as to what her name will naturally be shortened too, as opposed to you trying to impose Mei/May/Mae.

@QuestionEverythingBaby brilliant! 😂😂😂

Why all the angst over the spelling of a nickname ?! It won't be on official papers anyway surely?!

I would pronounce it May and I prefer Mei.

Mey would be pronounced Me, I'd just alter it from the long version to Mei for a NN.

Try and remember that your child will live with this name. I have an oddly spelt name, I hate it and it's still a pain now,

Due to tradition we'll be naming her after my DH's deceased mother who had a long, non-English name so her nickname is important to us as it will be used for everyday use.

@iwantknowyouropinion you don't seem to like this name..... use it as a middle name instead!

That's not something I feel like sharing with such a judgy bunch.

Your username says otherwise. But seriously op, it's very difficult to say if we don't know what the given name will be

Mei, I'd assume you were Japanese. (And yes, mei mei means little sister in China so it's what people call females younger than themselves, within and even outside of their own family - every younger female. It isn't a given name).

Mey isn't good - sorry - is it even a name? I'd probably eventually pronounce it like 'Me' after much confusion and wondering if it was a typo.

I would also assume there was a SE Asian connection for May to be spelt this way.

Is there? If not, just why?

Nothing more cringe than picking a name and spelling it ridiculously to be “younique”.

I'd definitely pronounce Mei as May but Mey I wouldn't be sure, makes me think Meh so this would be my last choice of all the ways to spell May.

I disagree nicknames should be organic necessarily like some pp have said. One of our names we liked but didn't have enough boys was Alex - we'd have given the name Alexander formally but would have been know as Alex.

My Thai masseuse is called Mae (pronounced May)

I wouldn't know how to pronounce those spellings without guidance and I'd think Mey was a typo. Just use the proper bloody name May. Nicknames come organically, you don't preplan them.

Maybe it's Maybelline?

@MrsFin Meirion when said the proper Welsh way is May-ree-on. Lots of people in the South (where less Welsh is spoken) would say My-ree-on, but that's not the correct phonetic pronounciation.

@iwantknowyouropinion i think that where you live in the country (assuming UK somewhere) will make a difference in this. where are you?

Mei - I’d assume she was Chinese - I know a Mei Chen and a Mei Ying.

Meh isnt very positive.

May is far better

My daughter's name is Eve and she is known to us as 'Evie-Stevie'. I would have had an attack of the vapours when pregnant if I thought my PFB would be known as anything so classless

Mei is far nicer but like others have said, i'd assume Asian heritage.

Mey makes me say Meh...like blah. It's bad...please don't use it.

May, Mai and Mae are all common enough (as in every other girl about 10 years ago was named ‘Something-Mae’.) It’s a really nice name but changing the spelling doesn’t to something ‘youneeque’ which your child will have to correct until the end of her days doesn’t make it any more special or exciting. It just screams ‘my parents can’t spell’ or ‘my parents thought they were being clever but they are the opposite…’ this is coming from someone whose parents spelled their daughter’s very average name in a way no one else would think of.

I’d pronounce Mei as May

I’d assume Mey was a typo. If pushed, I’d pronounce it Mee.