Layla or Leila?

[GentlePoet]

Or another spelling? I’ve seen Layla, Leila, Laila, Leyla, Leylah, Laylah. I think I prefer Layla or Leila but can’t decide which. Also seen Laela but that looks too made up (because it is) so it isn’t really an option. TIA!

@ISeriouslyDoubtIt , I don't think OP wants western names for her children.

What? That transliteration is flexible? Yes, I'd say so.

I would be unsure if Leila was pronounced Layla or leela

I would say Laila or Layla

@LiterallyOnFire , so how would you transliterate معمر القذافي?

None. It's a nightmare name with all the various spellings.

In the spirit of Neveah, how about 'Yella'? It's 'alley' backwards innit.

It's no good asking me about Arabic. Do you disagree with me in general then? About transliteration of names and spelling?

So would I.

Don’t tell me to calm the fuck down. How dare you?

My post was plenty calm if you read it again. You’ve even proved my point in your reply - you’ve called another name chavvy and have a predisposed idea of who they’d be and seem surprised to see they are nice and in the medical profession. That sentence was so condescending and I’m not sure you realise it is?

@LiterallyOnFire , Layla/Leila whatever is from Arabic. There used to be a trend for 'Carrie' style necklaces but with the name written in Arabic script.
Fine if your name transliterated easily but a bit weird if it didn't.
e.g. Sue would be the equivalent of Sw but Joanne would be Gwann.

The inconsistent transliteration historically resulted in people having their name having several different acceptable spellings. e.g. Umar and Omar, or Gaddafi or Qaddafi.

You also get it with names from other languages like Sonja can be Sonia or Sonya.

Yes I know. That was my point. No one spelling is "correct".

Xenia, Ksenia, Xeniya or Kseniya is another one.

I think you missed that the word being transcribed is pronounced Ligh-la.

Xenia, Ksenia, Xeniya or Kseniya is another one.
I wouldn't know how to say those.
Xenia might be Zen-ya, Zeen-ya, Ksen-ya, Zenny-a, Zeeny-a, Zen-ee-a etc
Is the original Ξένια? (approx. Zayn-ya)?

Same. I thought the op was asking which name was nicer. Not which spelling as they’re different to me, despite someone quoting you picking at your post saying you’re ‘phonically incorrect’. When has any of the English language made sense? You just don’t know sometimes

me too. I think the Leila spelling looks nicer.

I agree.

I was trying to work out why 'Layla' looked chavvier to me as its not really an overly chavvy name. I think it's because it reminds me of Kayla.

Possibly because it isn’t an English name..

But it’s a (presumably) English child, being brought up England who speaks English. And English people are going to pronounce it in a way that’s phonetically correct in English?

Laila.

Leilah

OP might not be in England. OP's children might be of British Pakistani or other heritage.

Not necessarily

Could be “lay-la” like the ei in beige
”lee-la” like protein or “lie-lah” like in feisty

all phonetically correct English is just weird

I think I agree with this. Both my children have a y in their first names though!

I have a 28 year old Layla, who absolutely loves her name! She was the only child I struggled to name, and so we plucked the name out of the blue when she was a few weeks old.
I preferred Leyla, and dad wanted Layla, but I love it now.
We are British, but not white, and all she has ever heard is how beautiful her name is, especially when we went to Turkey.
OP, your name choices are wonderful!

Is that me you’re replying to? I was responding to a pp who said I was wrong for expecting a British pronunciation as the name is not British. A quick google will tell you the name is Arabic, and has 3 different pronunciations depending on the dialect from various different Arabian regions. I’m pretty sure that weakens, not strengthens her case as even the original pronunciation of the name is extremely unclear and open to argument

To put a spanner in the works, I have a Lejla 😂 but it's pronounced as Ley-lah.