Is Eliahna trendy and overused?

[Keelinf]

Thoughts on the name Eliahna for a little girl? The shortening (Ellie) is somewhat basic and overused, but it wouldn't bother me that much because DH and I wouldn't have to call her Ellie. I'm just wondering if the full name (including every spelling variant) has also been overused. I know that it seems to have become very popular and trendy in the 2010s. Is it still?

The H is truly dreadful. It’s not trendy or overused, it’s just wrong.

The spelling is stupid. Eliana is perfectly nice and not overused.

For what it's worth, Eliana is now top ten in the USA and has pretty rapidly climbed (was #102 in 2015). The ones I have known have been from Spanish-speaking families and "Ellie" as a short form doesn't really match the Spanish language pronunciation (something like Ayl-YAHN-ah) but I think the typical English pronunciation follows the original Hebrew ( אליענה) and is more like Eh-lee-ah-nah - so might be shortened to Ellie, Elle, or Ella. Liana could also work with that pronunciation.

Eliahna apparently is used in the USA but rarely, and in that context it appears to be a way to force the four syllable pronunciation without having to use the í (Elíana), so I'd avoid the alternate spelling unless you're honouring someone with that exact name.

Why have you put a random h in it?

I've never heard of it, and I'm a teacher who teaches 180+ different kids every year. Definitely not overused (or used) in my neck of the woods.

I didn't get what OP was saying but I get what you're saying.

I automatically pronounced it 'Elly-arna' when I read it. But that's the problem with a made up name - people don't know how it's pronounced.

OP, call your kid whatever you want but remember you're not the poor sod living with a made up name.

If you don't like Ellie, don't do it. Doesn't matter what you want, that's what people will call her (there's lots of variants in my kids' classes, Elle, Ellen, Eleanor Elana, Eloise and guess what every single one goes by at school).

I really don’t think the h makes pronunciation easier - it turns it into a name practically nobody has seen before and people will hesitate over how to say it. Now you’ve explained I can see what your DH was trying to do, but I tried a few times to figure out what it was and was sort of stopping on the h - like Ellie - <short ah> - nah. It’s just confusing. Go with Eliana if you like it.

I'm going to disagree with previous posters. I feel like the pronunciation is obvious with the Eliahna spelling. It's very straightforward. To be blunt, I would think someone was quite thick if they were an English speaker and couldn't figure it out. I can understand people struggling to remember how to spell it but not to pronounce it.

El- is a trend in girls’ names that has been going since at least 2010. So yes, it’s trendy rather than timeless.

I think Eliana is a beautiful name. I think adding the h is condemning her to a lifetime of her name being misspelt.

Haha little bit rude! I can assure you I’m not quite thick 🤣

The ahna ending is not one that is really used much, it looks pretty unusual and there aren’t many other names ending like that. And it has a variety of perfectly sensible spellings that can be used instead. I really don’t think it makes things easier!

Can’t stand it. Eleanor is a lovely elegant name

Is it pronounced Ellie-Anna or Ellie-Arna?

With the ‘h’ makes me think the latter?

The ‘h’ would make me want to pronounce it El-eye-arna with the emphasis on the middle ‘eye’ syllable which isn’t what you are going for.
I know 3, eldest is 22, the others are under 10. Both spelt Eliana

What is it? What is the name?

It’s not really straightforward though because you don’t read each letter individually, your eye scans the shape of the word and automatically ‘corrects’ it to Elihana because you don’t see ‘hn’ in English words, so I automatically read it as ‘Eli-ha-nar’ then I had to look closer and sound it out, the ‘h’ is that position is what will cause a lifetime of problems for any poor child saddled with this name.

I’ve taught girls with both pronunciations. Never one with the ‘h’ though. Don’t bother with that OP.

Eliana with an H. Heliana? Elianah? Don’t. Do that to her

🤣🤣

Fuck no. Take the H out. Poor kid

I went to school with an Eliana, she’s the only one I’ve ever met!

Lose the H though. I’ve not known it pronounced Eli-Anna. The one I know is Eli-ah-na. I wouldn’t make the connection the pp has said either! So don’t let that put you off. It’s a lovely name.

I know an Eliana which is spelt Eliyanah but pronounced Eli-yar-nah

The h looks weird. I only know a 7 year old Eliana

Even with the Eliahna spelling, I like the name. We’re going to have to get used to (or at least tolerant of) uncommon spellings, pronunciations, and even names that we’ve never heard before. We’re witnessing a societal shift. Most parents are becoming more open to choosing from a wider variety of names, so there’s going to be many children with names that aren’t familiar to many of us in the next few years. These might be our children’s classmates, grandchildren, nieces/nephews, pupils, etc.

Think about how many names were considered truly weird or awful until they became popular and widely used. As soon as something becomes popular or common, it suddenly becomes liked by people who previously disliked it. I’ve never understood that. I guess it’s a bit of a herd mentality.

I’ve only seen it spelt Elliana or I guess it could be Eliana, but I’ve never seen it with an ‘h’. I don’t know anyone called that, it sounds quite American to me because they tend to just randomly add Ana onto the end of other names. There was a child on Dance Moms named Elliana.