How would you pronounce Elena?

[Goscat]

Latin family loving in the UK. We want to use this name but are unsure how Brits (Scots specifically will pronounce it?)

It should be Eh-LEH-na

You know how the Beatles pronounced it in Eleanor Rigby? Like that.

Eh-lay-na and elaine-a are nigh on identical to me (and el-lay-a is pretty close too).

I wouldn't get close to Eleanor with any of the above pronunciations tho. It's totally different, imo.

I think that southern English say Eleanor without a hard r on the end...imagine the queen saying it 🤣

@Brainstorm23

How on earth do people get El-uh-nuh from Eleanor?
You've never heard people pronounce it El-uh-nor?

El - N - ahhh

I much prefer El-lay-nah over Ellen-or

I would guess at El-ay-na or Eleanor (without the “r”) if I saw it written down but would (try!) to copy whatever pronunciation you used if I heard it.

El e na

Yes, it is the normal way of pronouncing it in England.

Ah that makes sense then. Rhotic accent, like in Scotland (and most of the U.S., but not England).

I'd ask because it's one of those names with different pronunciations. I'd guess e-LAY-nah but realise it could also be EL-le-nah or e-LEE-nah.

I named my daughter this (husband is Spanish).
We call her Eh-LEN-ah the Spanish way.
She does get a lot of EL-len-uh like Eleanor.
I tend to introduce her as Eh-LAY-nuh to get closer to the right pronunciation as I think insisting on the Spanish pronunciation is unrealistic.
We also call her Lena as a nickname pronounced LEN-uh which I think also makes it different to Eleanor.

It's a beautiful name and i dont regret it but I think you do have to accept some variation in pronunciation or be willing to correct people a lot.

I'm Scottish and would pronounce it as Eh-lay-na.

Although there was one at school who was Eh-lee-na

Eh- len- uh

I'd pronounce it El-ay-na unless I heard the person concerned (or her parents) pronounce it differently, in which case I'd follow their lead.

How are people getting an uh sound at the end when it ends with an a?

Like the OP, I’d pronounce it Eh-LEH-na.

Completely different to Eleanor.

In Wales, El-ENN-A (a as in Apple)

England Elaine-uh

El Eee na

El-En-Ah

My daughter is Yelena so very similar but gets called Lena mostly (Len-ah)

I would say it the way you would OP
But I'm familiar with foreign languages
I honestly believe most people here would just pronounce it the normal English way.
I prefer your pronunciation but wouldn't name my child it because I'd only want it pronounced that way and I don't think people would

Hey OP my daughter is Elena. We wanted to have the same as you, pronounced Eh LEH na (Central America) but we knew she’d just have a lifetime of correcting people in UK calling her Elaine-er or Eleanor so we kept the Elena spelling but the Ellen-ah pronunciation (but she does know the correct way to pronounce it and the origins of her name - she may well change it when she’s old enough to make that decision and that would be her choice) I do call her Eh LEH na when telling her off sometimes 😂

E-lay-na

El-ay-na

@tipsandtoes sorry that's a typo. Should be an n, so "na" at the end not "a"