NAIA- and other girls names...

[thehogopogo]

My daughter is Marla, I like 'soft' gentle names and stumbled across 'Naia' on Nameberry.com. Apparently it's Hawaain, meaning 'to flow'-nothing too objectionable. Pronounced NAY-AH. But how would you pronounce it? and what other similar girl names can you think of? It doesn't have to be so unusual...

Nyla

Nila/Neela

I would pronounce it as Nya as 'Maia' I have come across tend to pronounce it as Mya rather than May-uh.

If I didn't know better I'd pronounce it 'Ny-ah' - same as Maia but with N rather than M. Similar names - I think Lila is nice.

I think you'd have a lifetime of telling people how to spell it or how to pronounce it.

Freya is pretty and not too dissimilar.

I'd assume it was pronounced ny-ah, like Maia is my-ah.

I love Marla's name but I have to say that Naia sounds like the name of an American government agency, National Agency Investigating Aliens.

Similar names...

Naida
Leila
Nina

To be honest I only opened this thread to work out how on earth to pronounce it! It's very pretty, but being the owner of a surname that I constantly have to spell, I know it would drive me insane having to do it with my christian name.

I'd be as confused as I get with Maia - is it May-ah or My-ah?- once I know which it is then i'm fine though. :)

Other suggestions

Nyree
Nuala
Noa
Lorna
Lucia

I would pronounce it as NYE-ah.

Nia is the Welsh form of Niamh and pronounced NEE-ah.

What about Lorelei? Very pretty and gentle.

I would have pronounced it Ny-ah. But would only need correcting once. It's pretty. And it's like Mia/Myah/Maya, Kia/Kyah/Kaya etc. With the 'aia' spelling you'll have to tell people. I know a Nia (Nee-a) and a Nyah (Ny-ah) which might be more obvious spellings if you want?

Love Marla. One of my best friends is called that but spelled Mala so I guess that's another one open to interpretation!

Other ideas:
Ayla, Aria, Ariel, Alba, Ailsa, Aya, Ada, Bronte, Brynn, Cleo, Cara, Ciara, Dana, Darcy, Effie, Etta, Enya, Ellis, Elise, Erin, Eden, Farrah, Fallon, Faith, Fern, Faye, Fleur, Grace, Giselle, Gina, Hanna, Heidi, Hope, Hedda, Hebe, Hattie, Isla, Ilsa, Ines, Iona, Ivy, Iris, Ida, Ingrid, Juno, Jada, Jaya, Kayla, Kiki, Kyah, Nora, Nina, Orla, Piya, Piper, Quinn, Ruby, Rosa, Robyn, Romy, Rowan, Ruth, Rivkah, Rhiann, Sara, Sadie, Stella, Seren, Tia, Thea, Tara, Tessa, Tamsin, Una, Veda, Willa, Zia