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?

Eleanor = El-la-nor (stress on the "nor")

Absolutely not! I've never known an Eleanor who didn't hate being called EleaNOR. Stress on the first syllable, and the second syllable is an e sound, not an a - so El-enn-a.

I'd pronounce Elena as E-lay-na. It's a lovely name, the only problem is that she would get people mispronouncing and misspelling it.

Vintage, thank you that's pretty much how I would pronounce it!

Anyway thanks for everyone's input I think I have enough of an idea now. There are basically 2 ways to pronounce it and neither is right or wrong. It is an international name and as such will be pronounced slightly differently from country to country. We aren't trying to sounds like Italians or spaniards. We live in Wales and will go with the pronunciation as in the video as that is our preferred one. Obviously some people may get it wrong but generally I would have thought we would be introducing DD or she will be introducing herself so people will know how it's said rather than relying on seeing it written down.

And by the video I mean the second video

Excellent!

It is lovely.

Also stresses both ways of saying it here so take your pick I think

m.youtube.com/watch?v=3BmIRv90hQw

What Vintage said - my daughter is an (Italian) Elena, and it's pronounced ELL-ena. In Spanish, it's the second syllable that's stressed - Ell-E-na.
We live in London, and I'd say the majority of Brits will try to pronounce it the Spanish way - but it's not a problem, quickly oorrected and forgotten!

Absolutely not! I've never known an Eleanor who didn't hate being called EleaNOR. Stress on the first syllable, and the second syllable is an e sound, not an a - so El-enn-a.

El-eh-NOR is how it's pronounced where I am (Australia), so. Evidently some don't mind!

I'd pronounce Elena as Eh-LAY-nah. I wouldn't think of pronouncing it the same was as Eleanor.