How do you pronounce Mairead?

[fiercebadrabbit]

My friend has just sent out an email saying this is the name of her dd

I don't want to get it wrong when I call to congratulate - is it mare-aid?

Thank you

In the west of ireland most of us call it mar-'aith' not 'aid' but n da gaeltach they pronounce it muir-aith so... little of no help to ya... cause it really depends on where shes from...

More-aid but softly, as if there's a few H's in there

pmsl at some of the pronounciations on here, there's a subtlety to irish pronounciations that seems to escape the english and the results are peculiar to say the least.

an english woman i know can't pronounce mairead no matter how hard she tries... it comes out as 'mared' every time her versions of roisín is 'roshin' and 'aoenghus' is 'angus'

and my cousins seem to be pathelogically incapable of pronouncing my name

Yes, the ending D sound and especially the slender R in the middle is not something you hear in English, which is why it's often simplified for the benefit of the non-Irish by a lot people with the name, if they don't want to spend time telling people where to put their tongues and what to do with them when they get them there.