Opinions needed on Violet and Helena please

Helena.
Do you like ..
Elena
Helen
Ellinor.

I like Violet, it’s quite popular if that bothers you.

I’d probably go for Helena of the two as it’s a little more grown up and elegant. Assuming people don’t call her Hells. There’s a fairly good chance it will be shortened - Nell and Lena are nice nns but Ella will be dull (so many of them.

I think the classic UK Helen-ah is still standard (I think Helen-ar is just an accent variation?) Hel-ay-nah seems to be gaining ground, Hel-ee-na less likely. .

You could think about Viola but then some people will pronounce it like the instrument, which does sound a bit hillbilly when applied to a person…

How about Harriet? 😁

I've never made the association with violet and violence myself, op. I like that the most

I love both.
Classic as they are, Helena is a very famous emo anthem. Violet is the name of Dave Grohl’s daughter. So they could also be quite rock and roll!
I agree with PPs who suggested Viola. I’d have loved to use that.

Helena - in particular Hel Ay Nah

violet reads like violent to me

I like both names - but where I live many people would drop the H which would be annoying.

I prefer Helena it's such a pretty name and much more uncommon. I pronounce it the same as you and know one who pronounces it the same too. I also like Helen

Both are beautiful!

Love Helena — classic and elegant but uncommon. Shakespearean. Beautiful name!

I’m less keen on Violet but only because I associate it with the elderly aunts of my childhood (a generation now mostly passed away!) But, as pp have said, Viola is lovely (Shakespearean too!) and in a similarly classic and elegant style to Helena. Similarly Shakespearean names might be Juliet, Celia, Rosalind and Portia.

Helena is a timeless, elegant Shakespearean classic - nearly always pronounced as “Helen-uh” in England as that’s the Shakespearean way. It’s lovely imo, I’m surprised it’s so underused - I suspect the popularity of Helen in the past put the kibosh on it a bit (the way Julia was underused compared to Julie, Louisa to Louise, Diana to Diane etc).

Violet rises and falls a lot with trends and doesn’t have quite as nice a sound to me (though I do appreciate the colour and floral imagery).

You might also want to consider the most likely potential nn’s too - I suspect Nell or Vi respectively (though I guess Ellie/Lena or Letty are possibles). Personally again I prefer Nell.

On Shakespearean theme - I do really love Juliet, Julia and Viola too though, if you wanted more ideas 🤣

Personally love Violet. Helena is nice but Helen gives me Karen vibes

Both beautiful names OP. Violet is my favourite girls name ever. I've never associated it with the word violent and Helena (Helen-ah) and Eleanor were on our short list for girls - alas we had boys.
As we have similar tastes, the other girls names we liked were Sylvia/Sylvie, Nina and Naomi.

I do like Violet; I think it's a lovely name, but I adore Helen (not Helena) - it's beautiful and timeless, plus it is very unusual now

I love the name Violet although I must admit that when I was a child I spent at least two years believing that the character in the Just William stories was called Violent Elizabeth. I wouldn’t let that put you off though.
I also love Helena (and would pronounce it Helen-a, not Helayna).

Much prefer Helena

Love Violet

I prefer Helena and would pronounce it like you. I've never heard anyone say Helen-ar! The other two pronunciations would only be a potential issue with people reading her name aloud for the first time. If she's introduced as Helen-ah, people will quickly learn that that's how you pronounce it.

I'm not a fan of violet and one of the reasons is the 'violent' thing. There's no getting away from the fact that autocorrect suggests violent or violence when you start to type violet. It's not a great association, is it? It would be an unfortunate typo when people talk about her in messages.

Helena is a lovely name. I’d pronounce it Helen-ah.

Violet does seem harsh to me. i prefer something that changes the ‘eye’ sound to ‘ee’ like Violetta, Violaine.

Helena nn Nell was my choice if I ever had a DD2

Ireland?

Helena is lovely and classic - although there are multiple pronunciations, people will soon pick up the correct one for your daughter, and does it matter anyway.

Violet still seems very old fashioned to me, and I don't get the current popularity. It's a lovely flower, scent, colour, but not a lovely word/name imo. Almost spelled violent, could be shortened to Vi (rhyming with why) which is not a nice sound. I quite like Viola but I am told that means something to do with rape in Spanish.

I didn’t RTFT before posting so missed this comment - I agree, Viola is lovely

Both delightful names.

If you like Violet, you could also consider Viola. Perhaps not quite such a similar sound to violent (though personally I don’t really connect the two.)

I think Helen-a would be the more usual pronunciation, I immediately think of Felicity Kendall as Helena in The Camomile Lawn. I’m pretty sure Baroness Kennedy is Hel-ey-na though, & if it was me using it I’d go with that pronunciation. She’d get both through her life but if you start pronouncing it the way you prefer it at least sets the tone!

I would pronounce Helena as you do, but do be prepared that others will get it wrong at times.

What about Viola?

I wish you said it once and people remembered the pronunciation Some do, yes, but a significant number don’t, or go to another different pronunciation in my experience.

There will be less trouble with Helen-ah, but I’d still expect some to need to be told more than once.