How would you pronounce Elena?

[lucieloos]

I would say E-Leh-Nah. What are your thoughts on the name and which spelling do you prefer? Elena, Elenna or Eleanor?

I would say Eleanor but then I worked in a nursery where they spelt it Elena pronounced El-ay-na

I'd say Ee-lay-nah.

I'd pronounce it the same as you, I like the Eleanor spelling best, but not if your surname is Rigby!! (Met an Eleanor Rigby once, she found the name quite tedious.)

I'd say eh-lay-nuh

I'd pronounce it the same as Eleanor. But I'd also spell it that way

Eh-LAY-nah (Spanish pronunciation I suppose)

I thought it was Ell-eeen-ah.

I didn't recognise it as anything to do with Eleanor.

Eee-Leen-Nah

Eh-lay-na as my friends daughter is one

I think it would be El-ay-nah but it would be liable to be pronounced other ways.

Eleanor is lovely and less likely to be mispronounced. Elena looks to me - in england, not if you were eg Greek - as if you've dropped the haitch from Helena.

I would say Eh-LAY-na. For your second spelling I would say Eh-LEN-a. If you want a name pronounced Eleanor (which for me has the emphasis on the EL)) I would spell it that way.

My daughter is called Elaina and I would pronounce Elena the same way (although my daughter gets called Helena and Eleanor too 😡)

Eh-LAY-na.

I would pronounce Elenna as Eh-LEN-a and Eleanor as ELL-uh-nor, so I don't think of them as different spellings of the same name at all. Also, there is a pretty even split between people who will pronounce the R at the end of Eleanor and people who won't, so if it's important to you that it ends with an 'a' sound, that's worth considering.

Elena is lovely and much more feminine than Eleanor.

I pronounce it Elle-en-ah, emphasising the first syllable.

I also like Helena.

well, Elena is the spelling for Eleanor in many languages (eg German and Dutch) and so from those languages it would be pronounced the same as Eleanor.
(although i have a German friend whose duaghter is Elena, and he insists on pronouncing Eleanor as El - ee - an - OR )

But in Russian (and I'm guessing from PP Spanish and other languages) it is a completely different name. It is the long version of Lena.
So pronounced E -LAY - na, with the stress on the middle syllable.

So I guess it just depends on what you prefer.

Although I can see it's quite pretty and popular......it's a nightmare of a name and the different way it can be said and spelt.

Do has 2 friends called Alana......

One is pronounced I-lenna.
The other is pronounced A-lhana.

Both get cross if it is said or spelt wrong.

And yes, Elena is very different to Elean-or!

Thanks everyone.

Star, yes I would also prefer to pronounce it Elle-en-ah. The spelling Elena is a Welsh version of Helen. We are Welsh and so would prefer that spelling but I don't really like the pronouciation Ee- lay-na

The German version of Eleanor is Eleanore, and is pronounced Ell-eh-an-OR-eh.

Elena is just Ell-en-ah.

El ay nah

I would pronounce Elena as Eh-LAY-na.

I had a Greek auntie called this and this was how it was always pronounced.

But shouldn't Elayna and Elena be two different names?

Would I be better using two 'n's if I want to pronounce ell-en-ah then? So Elenna?

No, I'd pronounce Elenna as Eh-LENN-ah

I'd spell it Elena.

El-ay-na