I wish fewer people pronounced AU like O.
Laura is so pretty but everyone says it
Lora. Uggers.
Anyway, I'd say them basically the same but would easily bow to pressure to say
Maura "More-a." I prefer
Mara. I have a friend whose name was
Maura but she felt weighted down by it and changed it to
Mara, because she was really interested in eastern European culture and it was much more international/etc. I don't thin she's ever regretted the change. I've always thought it suited her better.