Mhairi (pronounced vah-ray or mah-ray) is a very pretty Scottish name and I haven’t seen it mentioned anywhere on here. I’m just wondering: have you heard the name before?
I have never heard of it. However I am from Australia and no [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] or [name_f]England[/name_f]. Looking at it I wouldn’t know how to pronounce it. Mm-Hair-ee is how it looks to me. Keep in mind Australians have a very clunky accent and can make things sound odd haha.
I’ve heard of it as a Scottish name. I thought it was pronounced VAR-ee but I could be wrong.
I don’t recall ever hearing it before. I think it’s pretty, but it would definitely be cumbersome to handle on a daily basis. My friend [name_f]Siobhan[/name_f] (born and raised in US) had a near-constant battle with strangers over her name, and that name is much more widely circulated I think. In her 30s now, she doesn’t mind it nearly as much. It’s just a lot to expect of a young girl to put up with a beautiful but unwieldy name.
I’ve heard it a handful of times and have met around 4 Mhairis, but I live in the UK so I have friends called [name_f]Niamh[/name_f], [name_f]Saoirse[/name_f], [name_f]Caoimhe[/name_f], [name_m]Ciaran[/name_m], [name_m]Sean[/name_m] etc.
The mh is a v, so the pronunciation is vah-ree.
It looks like a horrid misspelling of [name_f]Mary[/name_f] but I actually like the real pronunciation. It would be hard to use out of [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] though.
I’m from [name_f]Scotland[/name_f], and I know one Mhairi (who prounced it Mah-ree) a [name_f]Mairi[/name_f] (who also pronounced it Mah-ree) and there’s a rather well know Scottish politician named Mhairi [name_m]Black[/name_m] (who pronounces it vah-ree).
I definetly wouldn’t use it outside of [name_f]Scotland[/name_f]. I went to school with the first one, and even here, reading her name, teachers mispronounced it all the time - [name_f]Mary[/name_f] and Muharry being the most common.
I definitely have, there’s a Scottish MP called Mhairi [name_m]Black[/name_m]! An excellent person to share a name with, she is the youngest member of the UK Parliament in 200 years. What an achievement!
I had assumed it was pronounced like [name_f]Mary[/name_f] but I think I like ‘mah-ray’ better.
Mhairi or Mhàiri is a Scottish female given name, ultimately derived from the name [name_f]Mary[/name_f]. Etymologically, it is an erroneous form, based on the Scottish Gaelic … quoted from Wiki:
I was looking for some reliable reference for you, but by the time I returned I see the two previous posters have given you correct information. So I’ll just say that as a Scottish descendant myself the information from@islandmoon and @foreverharriet is eccellent frommy experience and reading.
Yes my neighbor used it as a middle name for her little girl. She pronounces it Mah-ray. Beautiful!!!
Mhairi [name_m]Black[/name_m] pronounces her name like marry. I live in [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] and I know two Mhairi’s pronounced marry and two Mhairi’s pronounced varry (one of them spells it Mhàiri).
[name_m]Hi[/name_m] there…I know you posted this a little while ago but I had to share.
My oldest daughter is named Mhairi. We are in [name_f]Canada[/name_f]…but in a town w/ a lot of scottish history. We get SO many compliments on her name. We chose it b/c my sister lived in [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] for a time and her best friend there was named Mhairi and I totally fell in love w/ the name! We pronounce it w/ the M not the V. Which works as most people wouldn’t suspect the V pronunciation around here anyway.
Mhairi is a beautiful name! It would be especially nice as a nod to Scottish heritage or a more unusual honour name for a [name_f]Mary[/name_f] (or [name_f]Marie[/name_f], etc.), but would be lovely on anyone. I do think it would be hard to wear outside of [name_f]Scotland[/name_f] though. I’ve heard of it before but only on Nameberry, never in real life- I think there was a member who used Mhairi for her daughter some time ago?
Probably me! haha see my post rght above.
Oh yes, it was! 
Haha, didn’t see your post there.
I hadn’t come on here in years! And just got the urge…I miss naming babies! ahha Then saw the post about Mhairi so had to share.
As a preteen I came across it while looking for character names for something I was writing. The spelling I found then was [name_f]Mairi[/name_f], and at the time I assumed it was pronounced My-ree. I was in [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] for the longest time, but it fell off my radar for a few years and now I’m not sure how a feel about it.
Yes, I’ve met one. They prn it like [name_f]Mary[/name_f].
Hey
Scottish person here to tell you this is now how you spell the name pronounced as ‘Mah-ri’. ‘Mh’ is V in Gaelic and they’re absolutely not interchangeable. It’s pronounced ‘Vah-ri’.
Honestly I wouldn’t recommend using this name if you’re not Scottish or Irish (and I don’t mean ‘oh but my great great great…’ because that doesn’t actually make you Irish) because you’re going to fall into a lot of traps with pronunciation. The ‘r’ sound in Mhairi has to be rolled as well, it’s not pronounced like ‘marry’ with a v, so if you can’t make that noise it’s gonna be hard to say the name. It is beautiful but I think it’s one of the less accessible Gaelic names if you’re not familiar with the language/culture and I’d probably give yourself a break and go with names like [name_f]Heather[/name_f] or [name_f]Sorcha[/name_f] that have more familiar sounds.
Oh, Mhairi with an ‘m’ is spelled as Máiri just in case anyone’s looking for it.