Eleanor vs Elenore

I’m so sorry OP.
I hadn’t seen your post when I posted.

This.

Like others have said Elenore looks like you can't spell.

Its not true that all British people pronounce it Ell-uh-nuh I am English and I'd pronounce it Ell-uh-nore, however to totally contradict myself most I have met pronounce it Ell-uh-nuh.

Also though, I once new a mother who pronounced her Eleanor Ellie-a-nore (so produced the a softly as well, it was quite subtle). I thought that was beautiful. It is a beautiful name whoever it's pronounced.

ElleNORE with the emphasis on the last syllable sounds ugly. IME most people with that name prefer the emphasis on the first syllable, so Elenore is definitely better avoided.

Elenor has roots in - and as far as any reliable source I've been able to find knows ONLY in - Medieval English and Welsh. So I doubt that OP's husband would need to "learn English", had he actually suggested this spelling. And Elenore (which is the spelling the OP actually asked about and said her husband prefers) has a very old, and some would say archaic now history of use in Danish, Dutch, English, German, Norwegian, and Swedish. So sub-mediocre try at a xenophobic slur, regardless.

OP, I would use Eleanor or Elinor in the UK. Eleanore is also traditional although less common and a bit more awkward in my opinion.

I know you’ve probably had your baby by now but I just found this thread and wanted to throw in my two cents 😄 my daughter is 5 and she’s Elenore, we named her after the Turtles song so wanted to have the same spelling. I see Eleanor as El-LEAN-nor now! My Ellie’s had minimal issues with spelling, my name is Ashley and I’ve had spelling issues my entire life so I think you can’t get away from it! Our spelling is pretty rare in Aus but I’m ok with it 😊 either is nice, I also like Elinor as another post suggested! More historical I think

Eleanor.
Revamped spellings of traditional and easily recognisable names is pretentious.
Sorry.

As a person with a name not spelt as the most common version of it, just use the common one. We don't get money for every time it's spelt wrong and thank god there isn't a limit on words daily as mine would all be spent saying "no it's spelt...". It's nice when writing correspondence because it singles you out but that's it.

I LOVE a good mumsnet pronunciation debate. I would agree with you, I know several Eleanors and they all pronounce it EL-uh-nuh. All from different areas but all with non rhotic accents.

Actually, I know an Eleanor from Somerset who definitely pronounces the R as she has a glorious, broad Somerset accent. But she still always emphasises the first syllable and doesn't really use an O sound in the nor. So it's more like EL-uh-nerrrr.

Eleanor.

Elenore is yewneek.

I have an Eleanor. I toyed with ‘Elinor’ because of Austen. Never ‘Elenore’. In England, Eleanor is usually pronounced with the schwa (/ə/) at the end - ‘eh’. The US, and possibly Wales and Scotland, favour the ‘-or’ ending.

I'm in England too and it's always spelled Eleanor and pronounced El-uh-nuh where I'm from which sounds dull to my ears, especially for such a pretty name. Occasionally here in a thick accent it's El-er-ner which is even more unpleasant.

I much prefer the Ella-nor with a strong or sound at the end but know no one locally would use it. I've thought of how to get around it and came up with Eleanore or Elinor. But the Elinor I know still gets called El-uh-nuh regardless!

Weirdly I've never heard anyone say "Eleanor Roosevelt" wrong...but they might not pronounce the Eleanors they know IRL the same way. It's quite bizarre.

I've never seen the Elenore spelling before.

I came to the conclusion it's just too problematic a name if you're fussy about pronunciation (which I am!).

I also love Helena...but people say Hel-ENN-uh, Hel-AY-nuh, HELL-uh-nuh, Hel-EEN-uh... and so on.

Elena can be El-ay-nuh, El-enn-a, El-een-uh etc

And the uh/ah ending always depends on the local schwah sound in the accent too.

If you aren't fussed about how people say it, the most straight forward and accepted option is Eleanor. I'd imagine people would mess up the spelling with other options.

That's a shame. I've never noticed a pronunciation issue in 14 years with DD. No-one has ever had any difficulty with the name.

Its Ell-in-err in my accent (or Ell-ay-an-or for a French friend’s child but they have an acute accent on the second e) It was our first choice girls name but never got tp
use it!

Eleanor is the better spelling.

I love this name, but couldn't use it because of the pronunciation issues. I only like it with the last syllable pronounced, not like Elena. But as proved by this thread, not always the case here! How do you want it pronounced?

The Eleanors I know universally pronounce it ellenuh, and that includes a 60 year old.

Eleanor is pronounced ell-en-uh (or sometimes ell-in-uh) in the UK
Glad I'm not the only one saying this is incorrect. I'm in England, with an Eleanor and her name is always pronounced with an 'ore' ending.

I think with Eleanor (or indeed most names) you will always get people asking how to spell it.

I say Elle-NOR not "Elenah" and the two Helenas I know pronounce it "Hel ay na" so there is no confusion there.

For me Eleanor or Elinor (as in Dashwood) are the most standard spellings and the first one by far more common.

My DD is known by friends as El. From about the time Stranger Things came out, oddly enough!

Lovely name though, go for it.

Wrong.

Ell-eh-nor in Scotland.

And I'd use the classic Eleanor spelling. The other just makes you look like you don't know how to spell it.

THANK YOU.

Eleanora is the example I use to tell people how to pronounce MY OWN NAME.
ell-en-nuh-uh is not how you'd pronounce Eleanora so just say Eleanora without the a on the end and it's perfect.
Elena has a few different pronunciations so I'd avoid that.
Spelling Eleanor might come easily to some but everything from Starbucks cups to my exam certificates all feature incorrect spellings of Eleanor.
People will just call her Ellie anyway, that's the automatic assumption and it grates on me every time.
It is a beautiful name meaning "bright one" but I've found it to be nothing but an inconvenience.

It's a lovely name. Classic and timeless. But please use one of the two normal spellings.

A bold claim given the variation of accents and dialects across the U.K.

So you’re sure that from Cornwall to the Shetland Islands, Newcastle to Enniskillen, everyone pronounces this one word exactly the same?

Where I’m from OP’s spellings are homophones.

I had two friends when growing up in the NW of England. Both were Eleanor pronounced 'ELL-en-or' like Eleanor Roosevelt or Eleanor of Aquitaine. It's a French name so the 'nor' should definitely be sounded.

I didn't hear it said like Helena without the 'h' until I was much older.

For those of you pronouncing it as the above... do you say Eleanora as 'ell-en-nuh-ah'? 🤔