Ellena?

[DessieLou]

I'm not normally one for 'made up' spellings but I don't like the spelling Eleanor as I would pronounce that Ellen-or which rhymes with our surname. Also on the shortlist is Madeleine....any thoughts?

What about Eliana?

Is Elena not a name? Or what about Helena?

Ellena is nice too but for some reason I think it looks better with one 'L'

I think Ellena looks really wrong, but then I have a friend called Ellen. How about Elinor or Elena?

We have friends who have just had an Elena! Lovely name for a beautiful little girl

Apparantly Elena should be pronounced E-lay-na......hence my dilema!

My dd has Elena as a middle name. Pronounced Ellen-a. I really liked it as a first name but was put off by it being pronounced/spelt wrong or shortened to Ellie which is very popular where I live.

My dd is Ellen.

I know a teenager called Ellena she's a lovely girl so I like the name.

My middle name is Elaina - said how it is spelt.
I like it !

Thank you all for your input. OH is still deciding if he likes it (he's not good with decisions ) but if we do go for it I think we'll spell it Ellena. Thanks again!

What about Eliana. There is a girl in DS class with this name and I think that it is just beautiful

Spell it thae way it's meant to be - Eleanor and pronounce it the way you prefer, which is actually the way it's meant to be pronounced anyway i.e. Ellen-a.

I have an Eleanor absolutely no-one ever calls her Elen-or, that would be the Elinor spelling.

I think you're leaving her name open to many more opportunities for mispronunciation by choosing Ellena (e.g. I would assume it should be pronounced Ell-ay-na) than Eleanor.

Thanks moonhare, it's good to have the input of someone who actually has an Eleanor!

I love it. Def with the double ll.
Elena I would pronoune el-ee-na instead of ellen-a.
Ellena is lovely, I wanted it for my dd but got over ruled!

Beautiful name, but definitely prefer it with one 'l'. More classic and elegant.

You determine the pronunciation - DD's name is very similar (already mentioned on this thread) and has three accepted pronunciations. We've obviously gone with the one we like best and works with our surname.

The correct pronunciation of Elena is El-ayna. It is a popular name in Europe, esp. Spain.

Ellena though is made up (I think) so you could say it how you want. I would read it as 'Ellen - a'.

I read Ellena as L-na...

I taught an Ellena once. She was lovely! And everybody seemed to know to pronounce it the Eleanor way.

How about Helena pronounced to rhyme with Eleanor?