Eva, Elena or Aniela

[karenangela]

We're going backwards rather than forwards with narrowing down names for our little girl! What do you all think of Eva, Elena and Aniela? Eva and Aniela are both family names, Elena would be her own. I thought both Aniela and Elena could be shortened to Ela. How would you pronounce Elena if you just saw it written down? Confusion about this was concerning me before. I love Eva but was worried about her being lost in the sea of Evies.... Thanks everyone!

[MyBreadIsEggy]

Eva's are 10 to the dozen round here.
Elena is on my list for a girl - pronounced E-lay-na
I have never heard Aniela before! How would you pronounce that?

[AliciaMayEmory]

I'd pronounce Elena as El-a-na, but have no idea how to pronounce Aneila. Is it A-neil-a?
I love the name Elena, but she will probably get called Ellie, which I'm not so keen on.

[karenangela]

Aniela is pronounced An-yell-a. It's a Polish name (means Angel) and was my great grandmother's name. My mother is called Ewa, hence Eva. My husband is half Cypriot and Elena has Greek roots which I thought would work nicely.

[Sophronia]

Aniela

[andadietcoke]

I loved Eleni and despite having a DD didn't use it (and have always regretted it a bit!)

[Pepsioften100]

Know one elena and she's a eh lay na
And aniela could be to rhyme with daniella, or Annie la- I'm not sure which one I would say naturally.
Eva is just another Eva/Ava etc name.

So not Eva.
Not that helpful really :/

[Tonis2297]

I have an Eva her gran is Evelyn so that's why she's Eva :)

[KERALA1]

Not Eve/Eva/Evie. In my DDs class one third of the girls have an Eve type name I kid you not. Its very annoying and confusing they all have to use their surnames all the time. Avoid - its this generations Sarah.

[Waterhill]

Eva

[LeonoraFlorence]

I prefer Eva :)

[maxeffort0satisfaction]

Aniela sounds like anal.
I like eva or elana pronounced e la na

[TeradelFuego]

No it doesn't. Aniela is pronounced An-yell-a as OP has explained. Starts with a short 'a' as in 'apple' I presume. Not heard of the name before OP, but I like it. So it's the Polish equivalent of 'Angela' then? Are you sure it's not considered or old fashioned in Poland as it was your grandmother's name, though? Not that it matters, I suppose.

I would assume Elena was eh-lay-na, but I know there are probably different ways to say it.

Eva is lovely, but there are loads around.

[Raines100]

Our 9-month-old DD is Elena, pronounced eh-lay-na. It is (imho) the most beautiful version of Helen, and I love that it has that traditional base. It's simple to spell, elegant, feminine but not flowery, and currently underused though this may change when the new Disney series "Elena of Avalor" airs in August The only downside is pronunciation, as everyone assumes it's a daft version of Eleanor, but I've found people are happy to be corrected, and if the above series takes off, it probably won't be an issue anyway.

[1horatio]

Elena is simply lovely :)!

[SugarMiceInTheRain]

I'd go for Elena or Aniela. Not Eva - it's a lovely name but is everywhere at the moment!

[Toofondofcake]

My 18 month old is called Elena pronounced eh-lay-na but I do have to correct people sometimes as she often gets Eleanor or El-ee-na but other than that we get lots of compliments on the name and I like that is isn't very popular and she probably won't be one of many in her school called that, also I often shorten it to "Lena"

[SueGeneris]

I have a 6yo Elena (pronounced Elayna) and she never gets called Ellie. Because the stress falls on the second syllable if anything it shortens to Lena.

People do sometimes pronounce it Eleanor or 'Ellenna' but I think pronouncing it using a short 'e' is also acceptable. Obviously I prefer the Elayna pronunciation and ime that's more common (have met both another child Elena and an adult one too).

[LadyFuchsiaGroan]

Elena - such a beautiful name.

[pilates]

Elena