Elena

[BartBaby]

What are your thoughts on Elena? DH's suggestion that has grown on me. I like a name with a cuter nickname for when they are little so I'm thinking Elena with Ellie as the nickname (this was in my list)

Other possibilities could be:

Eva
Hannah
Alexandra
Sasha
Alyssa
Lily
Erin
Caitlyn (I love this but not any shortened versions)
Isabelle
Charlotte

I really like it. You can use El, Ellie or Ella as a nickname. I know an Elena from childhood and she has always had people pronounce it El-ain-a.

But she is in her twenties and it's a bit more popular now so shouldn't be a problem.

Just realised my post doesn't make much sense if you were going for the El-ain-a pronunciation!

Elena as in Helena without the H ...love it...

Elena is nice although I prefer Leni (pr. lainey)as a nickname.

I like it. It was dd's middle name for about an hour till dp changed his mind.

Only trouble is, you'd have to be clear whether you want the Italian pronunciation (Helena without the H) or the Spanish-Russian pronunciation (E-lay-na) And whichever you chose, people would get it wrong!

I know an Elena pronounced el-lean-ah.

Ok, but I prefer the Eleanor spelling personally.

I love Sasha.

Dd3 was going to be Elena (I pronounce it Eh lay na) but I heard it pronounced Eleanor/ Elinor a few times & it put me off. Eleanor is a lovely name but it wasn't the name I wanted.

I really love Sasha.

It's nice but I never know how to pronounce it. I know 3 Elenas and all pronounce it differently (with the accent on the capitalised syllable):

Elle-EH-nuh (Spanish parents)
Elle-AY-na (British parents)
AY-(as in "hay")-le-na (one Italian parent).

All 3 are nice names, but i find it a little confusing nonetheless.

We would pronounce it Eh-lay-na. I've never know any before as it's not really a popular name where we live.

I'm not sure what to make of Sasha at all. Sometimes I really quite like it, but at others I'm not so sure.

really like elena (too tired to get into semantics of pronounciation preference though!). also love alyssa.

the rest of your list i dont have strong feelings either way, all nice names though.

Beautiful name I have an Elena.

I know one who pronounces it Ellen-ah.

Any thoughts on any of the other names on my list?

They are all lovely except maybe Erin.

As a variation I know a little girl called Elin which I just love. Apparently it's Welsh.

Looks like it should be pronounced as Elaine-or to me.

I'd go for the Eleanor spelling.

Have you considered Ellen?

Elin is my favourite girls name ever. We only didn't use it because we have a niece called Eleanor.

I know one Elena, pronounced as Eleanor, who spends a lot of time correcting the pronounciation.

I have no particularly strong feelings on the rest of your list, except to say, beware whether "Hannah" will become "Anna" in the accent local to you.