Elena Eleanor pronunciation

[firstpregnancy1]

I personally would pronounce Eleanor and Elena exactly the same - eh le na (with the stress on the first syllable)

If I want that pronunciation, should I use Eleanor or elena ?

I worry that with Eleanor there will be SOME people who pronounce it eh le NOR. I know this would really irritate me.

Equally , would Elena be pronounced by some people as eh LAY na or eh-LEN-a ?

Anyone know/ got an Eleanor / Elena who can share their findings ?

Thank you!

I would always pronounce Eleanor with the 'NOR' unless told otherwise. Not sure I've heard it with an A sound at the end. If I saw it in writing I would definitely just say El-eh-nor. I can't think of how I would say it otherwise

I would say Elena as Eh-lay-na unless told it was Ell-enna

For me, Elena is E LAY na and Eleanor can be either Elenna Or Elenor depending on the person's preference. I have known people with both pronunciations.

I'm Scottish though!

Elayna and Eleanor, strong stress on -nor, so the opposite of you, OP.

Ellena or Elenna would probably get you the pronunciation you want but you'd have incorrect spelling issues instead.

I find it weird that anyone called Eleanor would insist on correcting people for their accents. It’s weird to insist that everyone pretends your name doesn’t end in ‘nor’ because you don’t pronounce Rs in your accent.

North Americans tend to pronounce my name differently to British people. There’s a consonant in the middle that is the key difference. They’re not wrong (and in need of correction); they’re just speaking with a different accent to me.

Elena is pronounced Elen-ah in German but Eléna in Italian and Spanish. So depends on language.

Eleanor I've always pronounced as Elean or.

You could use Elina? Or Ellena?

I would say Eleanor ELL-uh-nuh, but of course people who pronounce their Rs would say the R.

I would say Elena as e-LAY-na, but you could correct people.

To get the pronunciation you want in my accent I think you'd have to spell it Ellena to make the beginning look like Ellen. Otherwise for me it's Eh lay na or Ellen OR

It’s like calling your son Hector and getting annoyed people don’t call him Hecta.

I disagree @SporadicNamechange. I think it's the respectful thing to do to make a decent attempt at pronouncing someone's name the way they like it. Take Ahlam for example. I met a young lady with that name who pronounced it Eh-lam with a very hard e and a stress on the h (like the Ah in Ahmed). Should she have accepted being referred to as A-lam?

I know 6 Elena’s ages vary from 5 to 36 they all pronounce their name exactly the same as Eleanor.

Or Victor as Vict-ah

I know 6 Elena’s ages vary from 5 to 36 they all pronounce their name exactly the same as Eleanor.

Which is how? Elean-ah or Elean-or?

I pronounce Eleanor like you do but Elena eh-lay-na. I met an Elena who pronounces it like you do but everybody always pronounced it eh-lay-na which really annoyed her

Why spell it with a NOR at the end if you want it pronounced with an A?!

Because those are the traditional spelling and pronunciation.

Lots of people pronounce the 'r' in Eleanor, not just SOME people as you state in your OP! English is spoken with a rhotic accent in Scotland, Ireland, most of the US and Canada, as well as in parts of England (for example). Your daughter may choose to move to any of these places in the future.

I know a few Elenas, and they all pronounce it Eh-LAY-na.

I would pronounce Eleanor in my (Scottish) accent as Ellen-or, but with the stress on the first syllable, and a short "-or" at the end. Pronouncing the -or is just how it's said in a rhotic accent, and rhotic accents, as mentioned above, are very widespread. It's not a "wrong" pronounciation. I'd have to put on a fake accent to say it the non-rhotic way, it would be bizarre!

I find it weird that anyone called Eleanor would insist on correcting people for their accents. It’s weird to insist that everyone pretends your name doesn’t end in ‘nor’ because you don’t pronounce Rs in your accent.

Exactly this!

You are in a very limited accent range there. These are not the same name.

I would say

El-AH-NOR
EL-AY-NA

I quite like Ellena despite it being a “wrong” spelling. It doesn’t look obviously wrong. Lots of people spell their names phonetically. Like the actress Ginnifer Goodwin - her name is Jennifer but she didn’t like how people pronounced it when she moved away from the southern states, so she changed to a phonetic spelling to get the pronunciation she wanted.

@Ellmau
The tradition of pronouncing 'a' for 'or' only holds for a limited geographical area.

It's fine to choose to pronounce your child's name a certain way, but it's not good to be 'irritated' by those with different accents who will, quite naturally, pronounce the name differently.

Yes, asking people to amend their accents is odd. It'd be like an American Katy telling an English person to call her Kaydy. (Yes, not all American/English accents, but you get the idea).

But an American Katy could reasonably change her name to Kaydy if she wanted British people to pronounce it that way. Hence why I’d suggest OP picks Ellena if she wants that pronunciation.

If this thread makes one thing transparently clear, it's that some people subconsciously view non-rhotic accents as inferior!

OP, what's the accent like re: Rs where you are? If you're somewhere non-rhotic, go with Eleanor.

(Where I am we drop Hs at the start of words too, so Eleanor and Helena sound basically the same.)

EleaNOR has nothing to do with rhotic v non-rhotic accents though. I have a strong south London accent and would pronounce the ending or. Like the word "or".