Alana or Alaina

[Cici342]

I have two children Eleanor and Marnie and just had a third girl I can’t decide between Alaina or Alana

How would you pronounce each of them?

They both look like they'd be pronounced too closely to Eleanor tbh.

Alana! But both Alaina and Alana sound very similar to Eleanor…

There both too similar to Eleanor imo, but I feel that Alana is the prettiest and the least similar so I’d choose that one.

Too similar to Eleanor.

Not mad about either. But Alaina seems made up.

Alana- if those are the only 2 options.

Alaina is too close to Eleanor, whereas Alana (in my head) is ever so slightly more different. Not ideal, but its a nice name. Any others you like?

Alayna is very popular where I am. They're not too similar to Eleanor but
you potentially have an Allie and an Ellie.

They’re both too close to Eleanor.

If you really must then Alana. Alaina just looks like a bad hand at Scrabble. But both are a bit too close to Eleanor in my opinion.

I like Alana but as other have said it’s close to Eleanor. How about Alara, Lara or Lana?

Depends on pronounciation.
Is Alana Alan-a or Alarna?
Alaina rhyming with Elaina?
But as previously mentioned, both quite similar to Eleanor.

If set on an "A" name would you consider
Anna
Alina
Amy
Alyssa
Abbie
Amelia
Adrienne

They're both too close to Eleanor. You need a rethink, sorry.

Alaina as in Elena?

I say el-a-nor but is known as Ella

we are stuck between a-lain-uh or Alannah

Both of these just sound like different ways of saying Eleanor though.

What about Leonie for a contrast?

what about Ciara or Kiana

Alana (spelt this way as it’s the most commonplace spelling of the name so it should save her hassle) is lovely and sounds fine with Eleanor and Marnie to me.

I can see why you are drawn to it, as in my accent “Ah-lar-nah” is almost a cross between “Eh-len-uh” and “Mar -nee” in sounds - so actually works well for a trio of sisters imo (as there’s similar sounds but they are all still distinct enough not to cause confusion). But if you say it as “Eh-leh-nor” and “Ah-lan-nah” then it works fine too. Alana and Eleanor are both well known names with very different origins - so minor differences in pronunciation due to accent isn’t a major issue.

But I do agree that Alaina is a no go - it will very likely be misspelt as more commonplace Elena even though they have different origins (and since Elena is a variant of Eleanor, that would be silly for sisters).

Doesn't Alana mean "beloved"? It's a very nice name.

Alaina is too but people do get it wrong. I worked with one and she quite often got emails saying "Hi Alien" - think it's something to do with common mis-typing patterns.

I like Alannah but pronounced to rhyme with Hannah

I thought that's how it was always pronounced.

It can be pronounced Ah-lar-na

I like Alana.

I think it goes absolutely fine with your other children’s name.

I don’t think it sounds anything like Eleanor

I was at school with an American Alana, pronounced Alayna, so I think you can go with whatever you prefer as other pronunciations can include Al-Anna, or Al-arna, and there are a number of spelling variants.

Yup. My thoughts too.

But is there really nothing you like that sounds quite different?

Eleanor/ Alaina/ Alannah/ Ellie/Allie is quite a similar bundle of names. I’d think of them collectively as “ The Alleys” . Marnie and Eleanor have a nice contrast and it seems a shame not to let the third dd have something distinct.