How would you pronounce Helena?

[HinchcliffeandMurgatroyd]

Just that really. Home country/region might have an effect, I think.

Either Helen a or Hell EH na

Yes.

There's no AY or EE sound!!

Worked with an Helena many years ago, was introduced and everyone pronounced Ha-lee-na

I've heard it pronounced all 3 ways:

• Hel- lay-na
• Hell EE na
• Helen A

One example of the first pronunciation had an accent on the E to make it clear.

I live in London.

I would pronounce it Hel e na but then I've been called He layna or even Hel eena and of course people think its Helen. The only thing is she will be having to correct people constantly as people pronounce it different ways and it does get annoying.

In the UK, HEL-en-uh

If I was in Germany, I'd say Hel-AY-nuh

At Princess Eugenie's wedding, the officiant and she pronounced it as
Hel-AY-nuh when they said her full name, Eugenie Victoria Helena.

If I was in Germany, I'd say Hel-AY-nuh

Why are people assuming it's AY in Germany?
It's not!

It's Hel eh na. 3 equal syllables.

My first thought was ‘Hel-Ay-Na’, maybe thanks to a childhood in Germany. Then I thought, oh, there’s ‘Helen-ah’ too.

I would say HELL-en-uh
But my mum always says Hel-EEE-na

Well there is an EE sound for Irish Helenas.

And there's also an EE sound when referring to the island of St Helena.

Deal with it.

Hell e Na

If the "eh" you're writing is meant to sound like gehen, then it's pretty much the same sound as English speakers are meaning when they write "ay". Like in the word "mate".

See the table under e: in the Wiki article for German IPA en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Help:IPA/Standard_German

If the "eh" you're writing is meant to sound like gehen

With 'eh' I mean the sound eh like the first syllable of gehen, yes.

But that's not 'ay'

Heleena

Helen-a

Actually in German the first two syllables of Helena sound very similar.

I know three.

One is Heh-lay-na
One is Heh-lee-na
One is Heh-len-a

First syllable is the same in all of them, the same as the start of 'Helen'.

This doesn't help, but illustrates why I wouldn't name a child Helena.

Hel-EEE-na in Northern Ireland.

I know numerous, all pronounced the same.

pinklavenders Would you pronounce Helene/a like this video? If so, that's the sound people are meaning, it's just their accents are putting a bit more stress on the middle syllable and in most British accents that sounds like the vowel in "day". It's a fair approximation of the German pronunciation, for a Brit.

Oh I don’t know. It’s better than having to correct or stipulate the spelling all the time, I think.

Yes that middle sound is what I’m rendering as “ay” in my southern English accent. But actually @pinklavenders os also right that the first two syllables both have that sound in German pr., so I’d actually write that “Hay-lay-huh” now I think if it.

So that actually gives us at least four fairly common pronunciations. Ah well.

Yes, that's how I'd pronounce the eh

It's more of a long EH sound rather than AY.

But whereas Helene has the emphasis on the second syllable, Helena does not always. So more of a HELena.

I love Hel-ay-na and would called a child that, but I know 99% of people would call them Hel-len-na which I don't like so much.

If people prefer Helayna, then spell it like that!

Clearly it’s Helen-a (HEL-en-ah) but then I’m a Helen so I’m probably biased