Mair as a Baby Name. Meaning and Origin of Mair

What is the meaning of the name Mair ?

The baby name Mair is a Female name , 1 syllables long and is pronounced /maɪr/ (approx. "mire").

Mair is Welsh in Origin.

Mair is the Welsh form of Mary, ultimately from Hebrew Miryam, filtered through Greek Maria and Latin Maria. Its meaning is debated: possibilities include “beloved,” “bitter,” “wished‑for child,” or “rebellion”; a medieval folk interpretation turned “drop of the sea” into “star of the sea” (Stella Maris), a Marian epithet. In Welsh, Mair is typically pronounced like English “mire.”

The name was cemented in Welsh usage by William Morgan’s 1588 Welsh Bible, where Mair names the Virgin Mary, and it appears in parish records from the 17th century onward, peaking in the 19th–20th centuries. Modern bearers favor it for its crisp, unmistakably Welsh character. Variants and cognates include Welsh Mari; English Mary; French Marie; Spanish/Italian/Scandinavian Maria; Irish Máire; Scottish Gaelic Màiri/Mairi; and Manx Moirrey. Common nicknames are Mai and Mali. Note that Mair is also an unrelated Scottish surname from Old French maire (“mayor”), sometimes encountered as a family name.