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I have never heard it as MAW-rya

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I have only heard it pronounced the same way as Maura (I am from Southern Ireland- Tipperary) with the exception of my great aunt named Maire who pronounces it MOY-a. She is from somewhere in the North-west I think, not sure of which county

Máire is Maw-rah. The fada/accent is on the a, not the i. It's not said any different to Maura. Except in Donegal where it's usually Moy-ah.

My instinct would be to say MOY-ra. I'm not really a fan.

I've only seen it once, and it was pronounced MOY-ra.
I usually prefer to spell Irish names correctly but I think in this case it could get annoying with people constantly mistaking it for Marie at first glance, never mind the pronunciation issues. I actually like the spelling Maura.
I hadn't heard of Moria being a euphoria but I do think of the Moria in Lord of the Rings.

Different regions of Ireland pronounce it differently. My mother is from the South (Western County Cork) and pronounces it exactly like Maura, "MOR-uh." But I think the most common way in Ireland is like Moira, "MOY-ruh." (I'm in the U.S.)

This message was edited 11/30/2008, 12:13 PM

I've usually heard it pronounced as MORE-ah or MOY-rah, although it's my boyfriend's sister's middle name, and she prounces it MARE (as in a female horse). Their mum was going through an 'Irish' phase when she was born, and named her Kathleen Maire, not bothering ot find out how it was supposed to be pronounced first!

I am just as confused as you. I've mainly seen it pronounced MOY-ah, but have also seen that its anglicized form is Maura (MAW-rah). None of the pronunciations would jump out at you if you saw it on paper though. I much prefer Mairead anyway.

I pronouce it MAW-rah, but I'm not Irish so I don't know how right that is. I think it's a pretty name though. I also like Maura.