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?

Eh-len-a

I have an Elena. Spelt Eleana. Pronounced El- ay- na. People always pronounce it as Eleanor. She's Ellie for short as she hates Eleana.

I do think the double N will help with avoiding the 'lay' pronunciation.
Or just use Elen/Ellen which is also pretty.

There's one in my daughters class and they call her El-ar-na. Like Alana. It's very confusing.

I would say

Elena = Eh-lay-na (stress on the "lay")
Eleanor = El-la-nor (stress on the "nor")

The Russian pronunciation would be Yelena, I think .

I'd pronounce it El-en-na. Wouldn't have occurred to me that it could be pronounced the same as Eleanor.

Eh-LAY-na, like the author Elena Ferrante. If you want it to sound like Eleanor then I'd go with that spelling, otherwise it looks too much like naff kreative spelyng.

Elena = e lay na
Ellena = e LEN a
Eleanor = E len a

We can't use Ellen/Elen on its own. Seems like some pronounce it Ell-en-ah and some El-lay-na. I've looked at pronunciation on google and they seem to say El-en-ah so maybe just go with whichever we prefer I guess. I would pronounce Helena as Hel-en-ah as well so I guess maybe it's a regional variation thing and some would pronounce Helena as Hel-lay-ah?

Also I would pronounce Eleanor the lazy way like El-en-ah rather than El-la-nor

I know an Elena which is pronounced Eh-lay-nah (and she hates it, goes by Ellie!) but gets the Eleanor pronunciation constantly from people she meets.

As a side note I came across the Elinor spelling recently and thought that was really pretty, another alternative for you?

(Oh, and my name is not Elorna...just noticed what my username is atm and realised what it could look like!)

Oooh love this name, adding it to my list!!

El-len-ah.

Because I have a Greek colleague and that's how she pronounces her name.

I would pronounce the name either as EL-en-a or El-LAY-na. Either way, it's pretty. I think anyone with this name can expect to get their name wrongly pronounced throughout their life, also it will be misheard as Helena, Eleanor, Yelena...

I would be happy with El-len-ah just don't like the El-lay-nah.

There is a new Disney Princess called Elena of Avalor and they pronounce that El ay na. I have an Italian friend called Elena and she pronounces it Elinor. However anyone who reads her name pronounces it El ay na.

Eh- lay- na

Eh-LAY-nuh. Although people would only need to be corrected once.
A (Welsh) friend of mine pronounces her name the way you like, and she spells it Elinor (often shortened to Elin). Do you like that?

I don't mind Elinor but not keen on the 'nor' at the end as I wouldn't pronounce it 'nor' same with Eleanor.

I wonder where some people get the lay sound from...? It's Elena, not Elayna .

I know an Elena pronounced El-en-a.

Lots of Ellens and Eleanors and Ellies in my area.

Thats what I wonder star. The lay sounds more American to me.

The Elena I know is pronounced El-ee-nah