how to pronounce these please

[christmasclove]

Anya
Helena

I confess I'm not pregnant, simply fantasizing about beautiful names.
Did you create names lists before you were pregnant?

@tobermory I'm glad I'm not the only one 😂

Ann-ya
Hell-en-ah

On-ya like the Irish Aine and Hel-eena.

Well, both have different pronunciations.

Anya has two: ANN-yuh or AHN-yuh. I'd go with the first one as I'm Northern.

Helena has three: HEL-en-ah, hel-AY-na and hel-EE-na. The first one is my preference.

I'm with @LizzieAnt here. The Irish Áine isn't pronounced ON-ya. It's AWN-ya. It has a fada on the A which makes the 'Ai' sound long.

@NannyR

Ann-ya Helena - I've known women who've pronounced it three ways, helen-a, heleena and helayna. I would pronounce it helen-a unless told otherwise.

same.

The Arnya pronunciation I tedn to hear from Russian/east European families

Scottish here too..

Ann-yah
And
Heh-lay-nah

Ann-ya or Ann-yuh and Helen-a (was friends with a couple in the distant past). I think for the French-style Hell-ay-na pronunciation it should be spelled Heléna (accents on both 'e's would make it Hay-lay-na), though the French equivalent of Helen is usually Hélène, pronounced Eh-lenn.

Both are gorgeous names. If you're in England (and possibly other parts on the UK?) then the majority of the time you will hear "Ann - yah" and "Heh - len -ah" (the Shakespearean English pron). In other countries "Arn -yah" and "Heh -lay -nah" or "Heh - lee- nah" are much more common.

@NannyR

Ann-ya Helena - I've known women who've pronounced it three ways, helen-a, heleena and helayna. I would pronounce it helen-a unless told otherwise.

Ive heard it pronounced all 3 ways as well

The fact you have to ask is exactly the reason I would not choose either of these names. I specifically chose names that most people would know how to spell and pronounce, to spare my child a lifetime of irritation.