To add a 'h'...?

[CaleyThistle]

OH and I have decided to call our bump Leila if she's a girl.
I was reading a baby name book and came across the spelling with the addition of a 'h', Leilah, which I think I prefer, but OH is not so sure.
Which one would you choose...?

Leila or Leilah

No h. Leila is quite nice, but superfluous letters don't add anything imo, and are a pita to be saying 'Leila, with an h'. I think it makes the name clunky.

Leila has been spelled in different ways in several different languages. But it does not usually end usually in 'h' in any of them, except English:
www.behindthename.com/name/leila

But in English, adding an 'h' can also suggest changes to the sound, from 'Lie-luh' (or Lay-luh or Lee-luh) to 'Lie-laa' (or Lay-lah or Lee-lah). It's similar to the difference between (say) the endings of Anna and Delilah/ Dinah. So I suppose it might be an idea to choose the spelling that matches the pronouncation you prefer.

I think it looks much nicer without an H. Leila is also much prettier than Layla

I prefer it without the h, and agree that the h changes the pronunciation slightly.

Without

I'm with you, OP. I think I like it slightly better with the h, so Leilah. It makes it look & sound slightly softer, IMO. The downside is that you will get problems with people spelling it wrong.

Either way, it's a nice name.

Thanks all.
It's a softer Lee-lah sound we are looking for, hence the reason for adding the H. I also think the H helps people to pronounce it as Lee-lah rather than Lay-la.
There are currently a lot of popular girl's names out there which end in the letter A, including my three nieces, so I just want something a little different.

Without the h. But I would never pronounce it Lee-lah with any of the spellings; as far as I know the name is Lay-lah. I think you'll be correcting people her whole life.
I don't think the h on the end would change my pronunciation at all.

Without the h.
It looks superfluous.
Don't think it will aid pronunciation.

Leilah would not be pronounced Leela, though, because "lei" = "lay".

If you want it to be pronounced Leela, you're going to have to spell it Leela. I also knew a Lila pronounced Leela (although I always, ALWAYS wanted to say "lie-la").

If you want the 'leela' pronunciation, I think you're going to either have to just point it out to everyone, or spell it 'Leela'. I can think of quite a few women and girls of that name, and it's always 'Layla' (which I think is lovely).

I'd never guess that Leila was Leela. Could you try Leala?

Or Leahla? Lealah? Leelah?

Becky?

With an H.
I definitely read it as Lee-La in the same way I would for Keira, Sheila, Keith, Neil etc
To my mind EI makes an EE sound, not an AY sound, as in ceiling, caffeine, Madeira, receive etc

Leila - lila
Layla - lay-la
Leighla - lee-la