Love the name hate the spelling

[CiciLapin]

Baby girl due in 2 weeks and we are set on the name pronounced ARE-lee-yah.
Struggling with spelling although are leaning towards Arlia.
Aware it's probably a marmite name.
Other names we liked were Ophelia/Aurelia/Amelia/Delilah but for various reasons they aren't top.

Any thoughts on a better way or is ours okay? Not sure I like how it looks? (I have a name always mispronounced/spelt wrong and it's not been an issue so have no problem with that for her) just not sure Arlia is too literal a spelling. Other ways we've looked at are: Aalia, Ahlia. Aware it can be spelt Aaliyah/Aliya/ Aliyah but we don't like the y and h.

Also any ideas for middle names?
So far we like grace, we are aware it's very common but seeing as her first will be unusual though best to not be too "out there". Thought a one syllable middle name would be best as first is 3 but open to other options. Last name is one syllable.

Thoughts? (Please don't hate on the name too much, we took forever to agree )

@HaveringWavering

Like I said before I can't say I know specifically about uk accent/language/rhotic etc

But you just said you have an Irish name yourself? Why don’t you ask your Irish relatives how they would pronounce “Arlia”? I guarantee it would be Arrlia.

I would but unfortunately it is just the Irish spelling my mum liked more than the traditional way.

I would just spell it Aaliyah, it’s the recognised spelling of the name and I can’t see how anyone could mispronounce it.

I think no matter what way you spell it, you're going to find someone who pronounces it differently. People have mentioned Aaliyah but I know an Aaliyah who pronounces her name uh-LEE-uh, not AH-lee-uh.

You could spell it Arlia if you want, but keep in mind if she ever moves to another country like Ireland, USA, Canada or most of Europe (or spends a lot of time interacting with people from those countries), they absolutely will vocalise the R sound. I'm Irish so it took me a while to get my head around what you're asking, since "are" and "ah" are completely different sounds to me.

My friend’s name is pronounced like that and it’s spelled Alia

I'm Northern Irish and would definitely proniunce the r in Arlia. I can't get my head around how you are actually wanting it pronounced... maybe you could add a voice clip of you saying the name and then we can all write how we think it would be spelt in our accents

A lot to think about here but those that said don't use the R definitely help reaffirm my original thoughts on not using it.
I don't think we will change the name as we like the pronunciation and we don't feel like it's too "out there" with regards to some names, it's just the spelling.
I know all names will have mixed opinions I was more concerned with how the name looked to be honest.
Thank you all for your views though, very nice to get outside opinions as you can get end up with rose tinted glasses with your baby decisions.

So the word I think will help here is gnarly.

You want (I think) the name to rhyme and have the same syllable emphasis as "gnarlier". As in more gnarly.

Is that right?

Solved it for you!

Spell it in Arabic:

عَلِيَّة

Alternatively, in Irish:

Áille - which means "beauty"‎

Seriously though I have noticed that a lot of people are using "ar" to signify long a sound in names which previously were spelled without r. So Farzia instead of Fazia, Jarmilah instead of Jamilah, and so on.

Jarmilah? You’ve met a child called Jarmilah @AuntDympna?

The Irish word Áille doesn't give the lee-yah part of the name the OP wants though, AuntDympna.

Would Allia work maybe?

For anyone who needs to hear the Arabic pronunciation of the first letter ...

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voiced_pharyngeal_fricative.ogg

@HaveringWavering

Jarmilah? You’ve met a child called Jarmilah *@AuntDympna*?

Yes. I think it's actually a recognised Russian spelling. Farzarna I saw recently too. I'm like, whatever...

I live in the ME & know lots of Aaliyahs, Alyas & Alias.

I'd say Alia/Alya is generally seen as the younger, trendier spelling. I've also mostly come across preferences for a short, sharp A sound, so it's like the equivalent boys' name, Ali/Aly with an added A.

The only young girl I know with a long A sound spells her name Aalia, so I'd go with that.

Personally I really like it - the pronunciation is fairly obvious with Aa, & somehow it just looks less 'fussy' than Aaliyah. Which is also a lovely name, but the 'y' & 'h' seem a bit superfluous to me, written down!

Honestly people will get used to whatever, though. Dd1 has a name with several different spellings & at least two pronunciations. I thought the way I spelled it made the English pronunciation I liked clear, but nope, people try out the American version first more often than not. She just politely corrects them if it's, say, a teacher she'll see quite a lot of, & doesn't bother if it's a one off encounter. Oddly it's a very similar name to the one you like...just a couple of extra letters .

I'm Scottish, all the people I know called Alia/Aliyah/Aaliyah/Aleeah are ah-lee-ah. No R to be heard. If I was corrected I'd probably just think it was an accent thing and continue pronouncing it without the R to be honest. I teach an Oscar with English parents, he says "Os-cah" but in everyone else's accent it's Os-car with an R at the end. If I pronounced it like him I'd feel like I was mimicking his accent. If you want an R I think you need to include one.

I think Ahlia is the best option. It should get the right pronunciation with the majority of people and looks more natural somehow than Arlia. Arlia just doesn't look like a name - more like a company.

This thread is fascinating and hilarious. I think you've got there in the end OP - don't use the R to denote a long A sound, you'll just confuse those with rhotic accents (me included).

As a pp said, just use Aalia or Ahlia. Both nudge the A sound longer than in Alia, but still look simple and a bit fresher than the original spellings, which I think is what you're after?

that long ahhhh at the start of the name would irritate me. Just say alleeya

@oviraptor21

I think Ahlia is the best option. It should get the right pronunciation with the majority of people and looks more natural somehow than Arlia. Arlia just doesn't look like a name - more like a company.

I agree, this makes it clearer how it's supposed to be pronounced. How on earth would anybody know that alia is ahhhhhh lee a

How about Arleia

If there's an 'r' in it, a lot of people (me included) are going to pronounce that 'r' which is not what op wants.

Aulia?

The problem with Ah as in Ahlia is that it's pronounced differently in different accents too. Might mean more people get it right though...

My granddaughter is Aliyah Charlotte.

@LizzieAnt

Aulia?

I would pronounce that Orlia or Owlia.

Yes, I think that's the problem with au, HomeHomeInTheRange, it can be pronounced in different ways. I was thinking of the sound in audio or automobile.

Alia is part of the term 'inter alia', where it's pronounced Ay-lia, so I wouldn't use that spelling. I think the chances of people pronouncing the name as the OP wishes decrease when the name is spelt Alia, as least until they get to know her DD. I think some people are going to get it wrong at first whatever way it's spelt tbh, but maybe that's okay too