Elena pronunciation?

[JDF1611]

I wondered how people living in the UK (we're in London) most commonly pronounce this name?
Would you say
Eh Len a?
Or
E lay na?

@Hikoridikori

Eh Len a .

Elena is Elena , it's not Elaina (Eh lay na) !

I really can't understand why people get the pronunciation wrong, it's not even a complicated name.

Helena is the English name. Elaine is the English version of Hélène. Elena, pronounced Elayna, is the Spanish version of Helena and I think used in multiple other countries as well.

So the “correct” pronunciation of Elena is ac actually Elayna. Pronouncing it “Ellen-a” is an anglicisation and actually incorrect.

Eleanor is a completely different name.

It's not 'wrong'. Newsflash, sometimes names can have different pronunciations, especially a name like Elena which does not originate in the UK. I've known two, and they were both 'Eh - LAY-na'. So that would be my default pronunciation. However I'm do realise there are other legitimate ways to say it because I'm not uninformed.

That was to Riko.... etc.

I’d pronounce it Eh-lay-na

To me Elena is Eh Len Na, Elenna is again Eh Len Na and Elennna is again Eh Len Na! Sorry

Eh-lay-ner

Eh-len-er to me is Eleanor

Yes I would pronounce it Elaina with an Eh but some people pronounce it with an Ee. How about Alayna or something similar with an A to start as that might be more the sound you are after? Or I could just be making it worse!

El len nah

There is a Greek name Elayna, meaning sun ray, maybe use that.

Helena to me is again the same Eh - Len - Na. With a very subtly "H" pronounced in the beginning like the name Harry which you can't hear H much.

Elaine, Elaina and Eleanor are completely different names to Elena.

Elena is not a British name and should be pronounced as per the country of origin, in which case it should be Eh - Len - Na.

If British pronounce it as Eh (or Ee even worse) - Lay - Na it's because they don't know how it's pronounced in the country of origin and they are trying to anglicisate it.

As for the stress to me it should go at the first syllabe EH-len-na.

Sorry, just realised it's the lay bit you want the sound of rather than the eh. You could just spell it Elayna if that is how you want her name to be pronounced.

Actually no, because the name Elena has more than one country of origin. I think 'Eh-LAY-na is the Spanish version, and' Eh-LENN-a' is Italian. Then there's the Russian way, and the Scandinavian way...

I had a friend Elena, she was Romanian and it was El-LAY-na

Though when she moved here she became Helen as that was the English version. Don't know why- it's a beautiful name.

Helena to me is again the same Eh - Len - Na. With a very subtly "H" pronounced in the beginning like the name Harry which you can't hear H much.

Helena is a different name. With a definite H. Of course you hear the H in Harry. It’s really clear and defined. If you can’t make it out, people will take your suggestions of how names are pronounced with a big pinch of salt.

@SundayTeatime I think it also depends on where you live, north, south etc. Where I live the "H" is not a definite H.

Although, this is a completely different topic.

In terms of Elena, as its not a British name, the OP should state how she wants it to be pronounced based on the country she comes from. People will get it and will pronounce it this way.

What I don't like is when people assume that a non-british name is pronounced in a specific way and they don't ask how it's pronounced.

It's true that Elena in Italy is Eh-len-na and in other countries may be pronounced differently.

To me it's just very obvious that it's Eh-len-na due to my origins.

I know 3, ages ranging from 5 to 15, all pronounced Eh-lay-na.

E-Lay-na

I see it as a different name to E-lea-nor so would never have thought eh-leh-na.

I know an Elena in London and her name is pronounced like Eleanor ie E-leh-nuh. Don’t really get why you’d spell it Elena and pronounce it Eleanor to be honest, but each to their own.

El ay na

I'd pronounce it
El ee nah

Eleanor is pronounced
El en orh

Thanks everyone,

The pronunciation we want is Eh-lay-na (with the E rather than an A at the beginning)

I just want the spelling which is going to be easiest and most widely recognised for her. I'm still very torn between Elena and Elaina. We're not keen on Elayna.

E lay na

Im scottish if that makes a difference

Well Elena is more classic, Elaina looks a bit made-up TBH. Most people will realise that Elena has different pronunciations and once you have introduced her by name they should hopefully remember that it's 'El-AY-na'. Which is far from unusual anyway.

Eh - lay - na. I was very confused when my friend called her daughter Eleanor but spelt it Elena.

@JDF1611

Thanks everyone,

The pronunciation we want is Eh-lay-na (with the E rather than an A at the beginning)

I just want the spelling which is going to be easiest and most widely recognised for her. I'm still very torn between Elena and Elaina. We're not keen on Elayna.

But Eh is an A sound at the beginning, more or less. I’d pronounce Elena Eh-LAY-na, which is the normal Spanish pronunciation, I think, and it’s how those I know pronounce it.

I can't help subbocalising it as YelENna.