New Name... How would you pronounce it?

[elleaimeejohnson]

Heya!

My baby girl is due in January, and I wondered what you all think of the name Emmalia, and how you would pronounce it.

I'm not as keen on the emphases in the classically-pronounced name 'Amelia', but I love the name pronounced Emma-LEE-ah. Does this come across in the spelling Emmalia?

I know it doesn't really exist, but I think it's just so pretty!

Thank you so much :)

Em ah leea

Emma or Amelia much, much nicer imho, and will save her a lifetime of having to spell and explain her name. I grew up with a tricky surname and it was such a headache.

I would say Em-Maaa-Leah

I think it looks very strange written down too. I would go with Emilia (Em-ee-lia) or something like that.

I really think you're setting her up for a lifetime of explaining and spelling her name.

The word you have spelled will be pronounced like Amalia, which is an existing name. It will look like you've made up the wrong spelling for Amalia.
If you want Emma-Leah then spell it that way, but it's not really a great name.

@Fluttrshy

What about Emilya

I like that actually! I didn't think of that, thank you

Emilya will also be pronounced Emilia

Em-ah-lee-ah is how I would pronounce it.

Just out of curiosity, the people who are saying em-ahr-lee-ah...where is the R coming from?

@MrsPelligrinoPetrichor

Emmelia would solve confusion.

Emmelia (as in Emmelia of Caesaria) isn't pronounced "Emma-Leah".

OP isn't the first person to use one of the many alternative spellings of Emilia/Emelia/Emmelia/Emalia but pronounce it Emma-Leah. People will get it wrong though.

@AwaAnBileYerHeid

Em-ah-lee-ah is how I would pronounce it.

Just out of curiosity, the people who are saying em-ahr-lee-ah...where is the R coming from?

Because you say Emma like "Emmar" and that flows nicely into the "L"

Maybe more of a H than an R

You don't automatically say Emma Leah because of the double M, you would say Em-Mah-Leah

@AwaAnBileYerHeid

Em-ah-lee-ah is how I would pronounce it.

Just out of curiosity, the people who are saying em-ahr-lee-ah...where is the R coming from?

My thoughts too. You'd think it'd just be pronounced as 'Emma'-'Lia', as that is how it is spelled when bisected into two 'names'

@AwaAnBileYerHeid

Em-ah-lee-ah is how I would pronounce it.

Just out of curiosity, the people who are saying em-ahr-lee-ah...where is the R coming from?

Non rhotic accents I believe

Are you against the hyphen? I don't usually like hyphenated names, but it would get the pronunciation you want and no explaining her name.

Would you consider spelling it Emma-Lia? It's close to your original idea and I think you'd get the right pronunciation more often. Sometimes people pronounce 'Leah' as just 'Lee' so Emma-Leah could also end up being pronounced just like Emily

Cross post x

It reads like Em-AR-le-ah. And most people would stumble over it. Don’t do it, it’ll cause annoyance to your daughter when she older & people can never work out her name.
What about Camelia (as in the flower) or Amelia?

@Muma1992

Are you against the hyphen? I don't usually like hyphenated names, but it would get the pronunciation you want and no explaining her name.

I'm not against the hyphen per-se, but I often see people disregard the second half of a hyphenated name.

My thoughts too. You'd think it'd just be pronounced as 'Emma'-'Lia', as that is how it is spelled when bisected into two 'names' confused

That's not how pronunciation works though. There are certain conventions which do change according to region but others are quite universal.

Upon reading i pronounced it

E-mali-a

I’d pronounce it Em-MAAH-lee-a. I’m sorry but I don’t think it looks nice written down either.

Emilya would just be pronounced Emilia. The only way you could pretty much guarantee the pronunciation would be by hyphenating: Emma-Leah, or possibly by mangling the spelling to something like Emilleah.

Be warned, if you do that people will still often try to read it as an alternative spelling of a name they know like Emilia or Emily.

I would pronounce it as you do, however it's not a good name.

It's made up, it looks made up, there's 100s of other similar names with various spellings which are overdone......it's just not a good name.

@Firstbornunicorn

Eh - Mali - Ah

Actually, yes, I would maybe pronounce it as this.

As I say, not a good name.

I knew a Sarah-Jane who was always ONLY Sarah-Jane, so it can work if you are persistent. As you would have to be with an usually spelled name anyway, so I don't think you'd be any worse off?

I have had to spell my name my whole life, because it is very similar to a more common name. Exactly the same as this situation now. I don't like my name. I've given my daughter a unique name with no similar names like it and incredibly easy to spell, to avoid the same thing.

If it was me I’d prefer Emma Leah, which would still give you the sound you’re after. I’m not keen on made up names, prefer something classic and recognisable. I’d probably pronounce yours like Emm-ah-lia, with the focus on the ‘ah.’ Like, to rhyme with Natalia.

I’d say Em-Ar-Leah. So not the way you want I’m afraid!

@CloseYourEyesAndSee

My thoughts too. You'd think it'd just be pronounced as 'Emma'-'Lia', as that is how it is spelled when bisected into two 'names' confused

That's not how pronunciation works though. There are certain conventions which do change according to region but others are quite universal.

The word you have spelled will be pronounced like Amalia, which is an existing name. (quoted from yourself)

This isn't how pronunciation works either in British English, as my name didn't begin with an 'A', but an 'E', so would actually suggest you'd pronounce the name in the same way as I suggested earlier?
I know ideally Emmalia isn't the ideal spelling for universally correct pronunciation, but there are very few spellings which would achieve this without a hyphen.

Most English people wouldn't pronounce Amalia or emmalia differently because the A and E would both sound like 'Uh'. There might be a slight distinction between them but it wouldn't be very noticeable.