Lena, Sara or Aya

[AmalFish]

Hello,
We are looking for a simple but elegant baby girl name- which one of these do people like?
Thanks!

For Sara would it be the Zara with an S pronunciation or the Sarah one?

If it’s the first pronunciation then that would be my top choice, if not then Lena is my favourite

Lena or Sara. I've not come across Aya but I'm just hearing it in pronounced in a northern accent as "Hiya". There's also lots of Mayas and Mia and Maia type names about so feels a bit overused.

Sara.
Lena is ok but is it Leena, Lenna, or Layna, and there are lots of similar names popular.
Aya - Ey-a, or Ah-ya? looks a bit unfinished. Lots of Maya, Kaia, Anaya etc

I'm not sure how to pronounce any of them.

Not sure about Aya, are you pronouncing it to rhyme with Hiya? Ayah, (I think pronounced the same) means 'nanny' in some Indian languages, and the term was also used by British people.

Lena and Sara are both nice, but you need to decide on the pronunciations. There are a few different ones as pp said.

Ayah, (I think pronounced the same) means 'nanny' in some Indian languages, and the term was also used by British people.
I think it also is the word for a verse in the Quran.

I like Lena, but as pp said, some will say 'layna' and some 'lenna'. Both sound nice to me but I know a lot of people are bothered by their own ambiguous pronunciation names! I wonder about:
Cora
Cara
Seren(a)
Alma
Anya
May

Aya will either sound like heya or Hiya. Sara is nice but to me is a middle aged lady. I would pronounce it sar-ra but I do know one person who pronounced it Sarah and had to constantly tell people so!

@ab03, there was a 1970s child star called Lena Zavaroni and she was a Lee-na, so someone aged 55+ might say it that way.

Helena is Scotland tends (or tended) to be 'hel-ina'.

@FayCarew Yes well I'm in that age group and Lee-na seems the most obvious pronunciation to me. Poor old Lena Zavaroni, I still remember her, huge voice coming out of this little girl, I think she died of anorexia in the end.

I think there was another singer called Lena Martell, also Lee-na,but I don't know much about her. For the pronunciation 'Lay-na' I would have thought that the spelling was Lene, like Lene Lovich (anyone else remember her? 'Lucky Number'?).

Yes! I remember her.
Lena Zavaroni's story was so sad.

Lena, Zara or Sarah would be my choice (yes, I realise only one of those is on your list)

Lena

Sara

I like both Lena and Sara. Also Lina and Sarah, which I think are less likely to be mispronounced, if that bothers you.

Like others, I also read Aya as “hiya!”, so I’d not consider using it.

Sara

Aya sounds like someone just stood on your toe.

Sara and Lena both lovely.

Lena. Sara will just get a lot of confusion over pronunciation. I have a friend Sara (said as Sarah) and she’s always annoyed when she’s called otherwise.
Aya I like the look of but not so much the sound of. That will also get a lot of confusion over pronunciation.

I don't think there'd be much confusion with Sara. It's like Lara, Cara, Zara and Clara.
I know several Zaras so it seems quite ordinary.
I think it was almost compulsory to have a family member called Sarah in my age group.

@FayCarew I never would have thought to say Leena! Even more confusing then! I thought layna because I know a Magdalena and Helena pronounced that way, and my daughter goes to nursery with a Lena pronounced 'lenna'

Love Lena.

Lee-na

@ab03 , we have a few Helenas in the family tree and they're 'Heleena'.
Helena Kennedy is a Heleena too.
Lena and Ena were fairly regular names about 80+ years age, usually short for something.
I'd only heard Lena said as Leena or Lenna until the Tindalls had one. I think their Mia is a 'Mya'.

I like Lena - the pronunciation variation wouldn’t bother me because it’s only occasionally that people read your name before hearing it said, and it’s easily corrected.

Sara - I like but possibly a bit dated

Aya - sounds like Hiya or Heya. I like Ayla, if that’s an option?

All nice.

I teach 3 Saras at the moment, all pronounced like Zara with an S but a huge number of people call them Sarah.

The only Lena I have taught was a Lee-na. I wouldn't think to pronounce it another way.

I've never met an Aya.

I think my favourite is Sara.

Sara is my favourite - nice and unusual without being odd. I’m assuming you want it pronounced like Zara with an S, if not it’s easier to spell it Sarah.

Lena is fine but way too many Lena/Lola/Leila/Lyra/Lara/Luna/Leah/Lila names around. I do think 99% of people will say it Lee-nuh though, so I wouldn’t worry about that.

Aya (Aye-uh?) isn’t great.

Sara( to rhyme with Zara) but actually prefer Zara.
Lara or Lana I prefer to Lena.
Not heard of Aya but prefer Anya.