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I had almost that same issue growing up. I lived in a town with a decently-sized Jewish population, and apparently the Hebrew pronunciation of Mara is closer to Mair-uh than Mahr-uh. I had a student teacher also named Mara who pronounced it Mair-uh, whereas my family pronounced it Mahr-uh. We moved to the South when I was in high school, and now most people pronounce it Mahr-uh on the first try, which I think is due in part to the higher Hispanic population here.
My last name is also unfortunately one that typically gets pronounced wrong, so I've really just gotten used to politely correcting people at this point!
Most people will just pronounce it correctly after one correction though.