Elsa or Eira?

[Taggys]

Love girl names that start with "E", but which one is nicest: Elsa or Eira?

I prefer Eira, but I am Welsh so very biased! Also think there are a lots of Elsas out there due to Frozen?

Both are nice names.
With Elsa you will constantly have people singing “Let it go”.
With Eira I think you will have a lot of pronunciation problems, given it is pronounced differently in North Wales to in South Wales, forget the rest of the UK.

Eira if you are in Wales or have Welsh connections. Pronunciations do vary though- it's a Welsh word and the correct pronounciation is EY-ra, but it is Anglicised ar EYE-ra.

True, but same as with EVE-lynn and EVER-lynn isn’t it? Ire-uh or Air-uh!

Where I am in north wales Eira is pronounced Ay (like ray) - ra (not ruh as English people tend to say)

my friend in south wales pronounces it as Eye- Ra

which pronunciation would you use OP?

Two threads? https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/baby_names/5258992-elsy-or-eira

I actually think it's the opposite. Loads of parents put off by the Frozen thing, kids singing let it go etc. It was steadily growing 2010 to 2014 (about 286 a year). Then a big spike the year after the film came out (I guess people watched the film, thought it was a pretty name, but had no idea of the ongoing popularity of the film, probably thought it was similar to calling kids Aurora or Belle.) Then it drops suddenly (from 537 in 2014 to 190 in 2015) and still hasn't really recovered.

Eira's growth has been a lot more steady, and is now about twice as popular than Elsa (according to darkgreener).

I love the name Elsa, really wish they'd chosen another name for the film, pretty sure it'd be as popular as Elsie/Ella/Eva type names without it.

Fair enough, well done on doing the research.

They are both good names!

I voted for Elsa (in your other thread I voted for Elsy).

I'm from Sweden, where Elsa was a popular name before the movie "Frozen". I know several women that are in their mid-twenties with the name Elsa. Very pretty name!
The first female aviator in Sweden was called Elsa Andersson. Born 1897.

Eira first, Elsa second but both lovely names.

LOVE Elsa. But then I am a 1883 fan 😊

Honestly, people don’t give more than a fleeting thought about ‘famous’ names - no one will walk around shouting ‘Let it go’ at an Elsa any more than the Mercutio I teach has ‘A plague on both your houses!’ bellowed at him or the Belle has ‘Tale as old as time’ sung at her!

This. It's the Welsh word for snow, and the pronunciation is Ay-rah (ay like in ray, ra like in rat). It's not Eyra or like Ava.

Pronunciation varies in Wales, but if it was Eye-ra,it would be written as Aira. As a name, I think you'd get it said like Ay-ruh or Eye-ruh generally.

Elsa is nicer.

I wouldn’t know how to pronounce Eira - is it like the word era (as in end of an era) or Air-ah or Eye-rah? I dunno.

And the connotations with Elsa and Frozen would be massive which puts me off.

It’s as above.

ay-ra

ay as in ray
ra as in rat

Elsa is a Disney character. Cute for a pet name, not a child.

Eira is lovely but definitely pronunciation issues, I read it as ear-a

It’s usually said Eye ra where I live (Wales) further North would say Ay -rrra. But does that matter? My real name is pronounced differently depending on how the speaker emphasises it and I live that it can different at different times.

I wouldn’t use Elsa because there are so many Ellies, but I’m not mad on Eira

Ida maybe?

Don’t be ridiculous

Elsa is a centuries old Scandinavian variation of Elizabeth, there have been lots of distinguished Elsas, whether that’s their full name or short for Elizabeth

@Ritasueandbobtoo9 , It matters. The Welsh word for snow is pronounced Ey-rah (short Ey).
I think the Scandi/Norse name is pronounced Eye-ra.