Mari - alternative spelling

[thatduck]

We are going with Mari as a middle name as it was my gm name however she spelt it Marie and it was often pronounced Mar ee with the emphasis on the e rather than the a iyswim and she hated that so I was wondering what peoples opinions were on alternatives, I know three ladies
Mari
Mhairi
Mairi

Any other suggestions/preferences, thanks :)

I think that Mhairi is pronounced Var-ee, according to a Scottish friend whose name it is.

I think Mari is the spelling most likely to get the pronunciation you are after.

In my experience marie is pronounced mah-ee with the a sound and Mari is mar-ee with the r sound

If you want the emphasis to be on the a (as in 'ahh'), the Mari is the way I'd spell it. When I read your post that's how I said it on my head iyswim.

Mairi is pronounced marry and yes Mhairi is varry.

I'd pronounce Mari the same way, but that's because I'm scottish and I'd assume it was Mairi tbh.

As its a middle name, does it matter? People don't often know someone else's middle name unless you tell them and then they hear you pronounce it.

My GM is also called Marie pronounced Mari. Perhaps it's a generational thing. I know it confused me when I was younger, given that another family member with the same name has theirs pronounced Ma ree. If you are not going to spell it the normal way (and proper spellings are always my preference) I would say Mari. I wouldn't be sure how to pronounce Mairi.

Mari - marry
Mairi - marry
Mhairi - varry, although some do use it for marry incorrectly
Marie - maree, though again I've heard of older people using it for marry.

(I'm in Scotland btw)

Welsh Mumsnetters will correct me if I am wrong, but SFAIK Mari is the Welsh version of Mary. The Welsh older lady I knew with that name pronounced it 'Marry', however (it would be the same in Scotland).*

Marie was originally the French version of Mary, and the usual French pronounciation of Marie is Ma-ree, with the stress on the first syllable, or sometimes equal stress on both syllables.

Americans say 'Ma-REE'.

*Cloggal has expertly explained the Scottish versions of Mary.

Flora is correct, Mari is one Welsh version of Mary - the older one is Mair (pronounced, roughly, like the English word mire, with a trilled "r"). You see that name in all the villages called Llanfair, with churches dedicated to the Virgin Mary.

Welsh Mari is indeed pronounced like "marry" with a trilled "r".

To complicate matters, there is, or was, an English pronuncation of Mari as Mah-ree with the emphasis on the Mah-, like Mari Wilson - 80s singer, beehive hairstyle. It's the same as the older English pronunciation of Marie, as in Marie Lloyd, which fell out of favour as people became more familiar with the French pronunciation with the emphasis on the -ee.

BTW, Mari is also a Japanese girl's name which was at one time hugely popular, not sure if it still is.

Just to add to Cloggal's comment:

Marie, pronounced 'marry', was one of the Scots forms of Mary, and was the most common pronunciation of the name. As florascotia says, the pronunciation of Ma-REE came from America, and has influenced the way the name is now pronounced here.

Many girls have been given the spelling Maree to emphasise this pronunciation; in one case I know she was named after Loch Maree (her brother and three sisters also had loch names).

Thank you ladies! That is so interesting, I was never sure if my great grandparents simply pronounced gms name wrong but it seems that it is a change over time.
I think we will go with Mari as it is easy to pronounce :)

I'm considering Mairi as a first name (pronounced marry). DC will have an Aunt Mhairi (varry) but then again I'm Scottish and completely agree with Cloggal's excellent summary!

I have a friend called Mhairi and its pronounced Mari