Marlene - help please.

[PrammyMammy]

I have added the name Marlene to the short list but after looking online I'm not sure what the correct spelling is.

I'm saying Marlene as in Mar-lay-nah. Like in the song, Marlene on the Wall?
NOT like Mar-leen but when I looked on websites via google there are some suggesting different spellings and pronunciations.

Does anyone have any input, or know a Marlene? Thoughts?

[poorbuthappy]

Gosh well Marlene is Mar-lene to me and probably to everyone I know so maybe you need to rethink your spelling.

[poorbuthappy]

Posted too soon. Sorry. Don't know how you would make it Mar-lay-ne but I like the name!!

Fat fingers. Sorry

[Bakingtins]

I'd say Mar-leen and think of Delboy

How about spelling it Marlena?

[maryannmarie]

Never heard of Mar-lay-nah, only Mar-leen. Think most people would get the pronunciation wrong.

[PrammyMammy]

It's written as Marlene in the song title and the actress Marlene Dietrich is also pronounced mar-lay-nah (like the song).
I've been googling all evening and there are lots of contradicting websites.

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

I would say the same as you op for the something two reasons

[TheWomanTheyCallJayne]

something for the same two

[hettienne]

I love the name Marlene with the German pronunciation. People might assume Marleen in this country if they see it written down, but once you tell them it's Marlayneh/like Marlene Dietrich I don't see the issue.

Also love Leni (Layni) as a nickname.

[PrammyMammy]

I also love it, i always assumed it was simply Marlene until I took to google tonight though - shouldn't have bothered.
Marlena just isn't the same, it doesn't look like it would sound the same,more of a Leena than the soft Marlene.
My gran was Angelina and I imagine Marlena to be pronounced the same way?

[BehindLockNumberNine]

My stepMIL is called Marlene and it is pronounced Mar-leen.
I can't see anyone pronouncing it Marlaynah unless you revise the spelling.

[PrammyMammy]

Do you think it's just been changed over time maybe? I have read that MarLEEN is American.
I wouldn't change the spelling personally, it would be Marlene (Dietrich pronunciation) or not at all for me, I think.

I have other names but this was my favourite for a girl, it might even be a boy.
It's hard work choosing a baby name isn't it.

[OutragedFromLeeds]

I think if you want it pronounced Mar-lay-nah you're going to have to move to Germany.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Marlena (pronounced as you want to pronounce it, not Marleena) is a perfectly good Polish name, if that helps.

I know a Marlene and she pronounces it Marleen.

[stickysausages]

My first thought was only fools too!

[lottiegarbanzo]

I was just thinking about this the other day. I love that song and the name but it struck me that Brits would read it as Marleen. I think you just have to tell people.

[Bettylafea]

I would pronounce it as Mar-lay-nah. I guess it depends what your reference point is though... Marlene Dietrich or Marleen from Only Fools and Horses. I think it is very pretty.

[BreconBeBuggered]

I always think Mar-lay-nah if I read Marlene, but I think I'm in the minority.
I know a German Malena, pronounced in a similar way to Marlene - might help avoid the leen pronunciation if there were no associations with the one out of Only Fools and Horses, maybe?

[PrammyMammy]

Hearing the Only fools Marleen I would have just assumed that the spelling was Marleen too but it isn't, I've just googled that too lol.
Annoying.

[lottiegarbanzo]

Ok but what is the age of people instantly familiar with Only Fools and Horses? That was on in the 80s. They'll be at least 40 years older than your child, so some other parents but mostly her GP generation, not her contemporaries.

Dietrich has greater long term resonance, if narrower.

[PoppyAmex]

It's pronounced like that in all Latin countries, but spelled differently;

Marilena (which looks fussy and a bit wrong to me).

[PoppyAmex]

Sorry, I meant it's pronounced the way you like it in Latin countries.

[curlew]

Everyone will say Marleen. Sorry- but they will. A lot of people even say Dietrich that way. And I don't think she said Marlayna, did she? Isn't it something like Mar-lane-er as in a country lane, but with a sort of unspoken -uh at the end? Which is a bit long for a birth certificate!

[CityGal29]

Great name I'm 30and never watched only fools and horses bit before my time. Would think great name and lots of nicknames like leeny, Mari etcX

[UriGeller]

It's lovely. I read Mar-lay-na. As in Marlene on the Wall.

Introduce her as Mar-lay-na enough times and nobody will get confused.

[curlew]

"Introduce her as Mar-lay-na enough times and nobody will get confused."

But she will have to deal with this all her life!

OP- write the name on a piece of paper and show it to th next 20 people you meet. And see how the majority pronounce it. And then decide.