Elena

[angeltop]

Thoughts please, pronounced el lay na

Prefer the simplicity of Ellen

Elena could be ELLena or Ellayna

Love it! But I did assume it would be eLENa

Pretty, simple and very popular in lots of other countries, but not overused here yet so a nice choice imo - although she could risk becoming another "Ellie/Ella", which might be avoided with similar Helena instead? .

Either way you may get pronunciation issues - but I think many people would pronounce Elena as you suggest OP, since the "Eh-lay-nuh" pronunciation is heard so frequently in US films and TV. To get the "Ellen-uh" pronunciation imo, I think you would need to use the very popular (in the UK) Eleanor - I know a few of those, and most people don't seem to pronounce the "or".

Sadly, you won't get a choice of how it's pronounced by her friends. My daughter has a name with a prominent 't' but her friends still drop it!

How about Ella?

I have a friend who is an Elloner and I feel your daughter will be called the same.

I really like it but I think I like it more like El-len-a rather than E-lay-na. But I also prefer Hel-len-a to Hel-lay-na

Agree re pronounciation - the only Elenas I know (3) pronounce it as Eleanor

Id expect el- en- er.

I do get confused with these names (how would you spell it to get el-lay-na?)

I love it, but I'm biased because it's my dad's name. Although I spelled it phonetically because I knew people would have difficulty pronouncing it with the traditional spelling. Going by these posts I was right to do so.

Not my dad's name obviously 🤣, dds name.

I actually sort of wish I had just used the traditional spelling and corrected everyone who pronounced it wrong though.

@Thatsplentyjack

I love it, but I'm biased because it's my dad's name. Although I spelled it phonetically because I knew people would have difficulty pronouncing it with the traditional spelling. Going by these posts I was right to do so.

How did you spell it?

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads

Agree re pronounciation - the only Elenas I know (3) pronounce it as Eleanor

Why would they pronounce it Eleanor? There's no R

Lovely name, my niece's name, but they pronounce Elena like Eleanor. I think you'd need an accent on it or an alternative spelling to show how it's meant to be pronounced.

I've got a name that means throughout my life, people have called me something else. Something very similar, but not quite it. It's an absolute burden so I make a point of giving my children names that cannot be mistaken!!

Alaina

Really like it. It was also on our shortlist.

It works at any age, and is elegant without being cutesie. Not too common unlike many similar names.

Love it OP, but as you can see from this thread you could be be forever correcting pronunciation (although in RL every Elena I know pronounces it like in your OP)

I like it but many people in the Uk would say Ellen-a before Eh-lay-na

This is on my list too as I love it but Im half Italian and would want the Italian pronunciation (EL-en-a) and the fact that there are multiple pronunciations is putting me off.

Although I never assumed one of them would be Eleanor!!

I like it and I never heard it pronounced "Eleanor" until I came to England. Most of the Elenas I know are Romanian and it does have that Ceausescu connotation, but that wouldn't bother me.

@Fleur405

This is on my list too as I love it but Im half Italian and would want the Italian pronunciation (EL-en-a) and the fact that there are multiple pronunciations is putting me off.

Although I never assumed one of them would be Eleanor!!

Possibly the people saying "like Eleanor" pronounce Eleanor as ELL-en-a (which I have done for the entirety of my 52 years and only recently realised was considered controversial).

How about Elaine?

It’s inoffensive and pretty enough but the ubiquity of El- names just makes it bland to me.

I think it's lovely and easy to pronounce.

El-an-ah and Eleanor usually pronounced the same here (southern england.)

I would always pronounce it "e-LAY- nuh"

I think it's a very pretty name. I also like Eleanor but would pronounce that very differently.