Jennifer (the net name spy!) spotted this one:
Q: Ma’ire is a unique and beautiful name. How do you pronounce it? Does it have a meaning in another language?
A: thank you, i worked 9 months on that name LOL. it is pronounced mary and it is the gaelic spelling (my family ancestry. i figured with a name like my momma gave me that i needed to keep up the tradition!) –branwyn
So the name’s not because of your ancestry or anything, so much as the continued appearance of it. Ah.
Actually, Branwyn’s close, but no cigarillo. Maire (no apostrophe) or Máire (with accent) are Gaelic version of Mary, as are Molly and Mairi. (Let’s also remember that Gaelic spellings and English spellings have been drifting apart for the last 600 years or so, which is why they often have a variety of spellings for foreign words.)
You also may be interested to know that Maire is French for “mayor.”
Actually, it’s because Gaelic was not originally a written language. The standard spellings for it were concocted relatively recently as linguistic stuff goes, and are different for Scots Gaelic and Irish Gaelic, though the languages themselves are very similar.
also, this in particular is a tricky name, and, not being a Gael, not one I’d use myself, as in Scots Gaelic anyway its correct spelling and pronunciation varies depending if you’re speaking ABOUT the person ( Mairi, pronounced ‘MA-ree’) or TO them (Mhairi, pronounced ‘VA-ree’ – no, honestly.) Cultural appropriation is a concept which is sometimes overused, but if you’re going to use a Gaelic name, be aware what you’re getting yourself into…