baby girl name spelling and pronunciation

[mamaonthefarm]

Our baby is almost 2 days old and we haven't finalized the name yet so please help
When you see the name 'Malia', how do you pronounce it?

1. muh-LEE-uh
2. MAL-ee-uh
3. MAYL-ee-uh
or some other way?

So... we want her name to be pronounced muh-LEE-uh (as in Malia Obama). If the spelling 'Malia' causes most folks to mispronounce the name, what are other suggestions of spelling?

1. Maleah
2. Maleea
3. Malea
or some other way?

[MaerynPearl]

Malia is a very popular name currently (thanks to being the daughter of the U.S. President) so I do not think you will have any problems with it being misspelled or mispronounced with that spelling but others will likely be misspelled.

(and the pronunciation is muh-lee-uh)

[sunfish21]

I was also thinking muh-LEE-uh would be the way to pronounce it. Good luck!

[MettaSutta]

I would pronounce it as Muh-LEE-uh. You could add an "h" to the end - Maliah, or even Maleah if you think that will help!

In any case, it's lovely!

[evjolin]

agree with pp--muh-lee-uh. and i think most people know it. i have a name that's easily mis-pronounced, and to me correcting people is really no big deal.

[earthnut]

I would go with the most common spelling, Malia. Because of the president's daughter, many people will know how to pronounce it. As a person with a name that has been respelled many ways in recent years, an uncommon spelling just makes it more confusing. It's easier to correct pronunciation than spelling.

[xixstar]

wow, I must be living under a rock because I've never heard the name. My first instinct was "I have no clue how to say that right" but staring at it a moment, I did come to Muh-lee-uh is the guess I would take. Glad to know I was right.

[momasana]

My first guess was muh-LEE-uh.

What a beautiful name!

[notjustmamie]

wow, I must be living under a rock because I've never heard the name.

I don't keep up much on the news.

In any case, I would have pronounced it "Mahl-yah". If I were trying to spell it phonetically, I'd probably go with Maleeya.

[RedOakMomma]

Originally Posted by mamaonthefarm

Our baby is almost 2 days old and we haven't finalized the name yet so please help
When you see the name 'Malia', how do you pronounce it?

1. muh-LEE-uh
2. MAL-ee-uh
3. MAYL-ee-uh
or some other way?

So... we want her name to be pronounced muh-LEE-uh (as in Malia Obama). If the spelling 'Malia' causes most folks to mispronounce the name, what are other suggestions of spelling?

1. Maleah
2. Maleea
3. Malea
or some other way?

I would go with Malia (counting on the popularity of Obama's association for people to get it right)
or Mahliah
or Malea

I think Malia looks the best, though

[mamaonthefarm]

Thanks so much, mamas!!

[ledzepplon]

I have a good friend with a daughter named Malia--she's about 12 years old, and I don't think they've ever had a problem with pronunciation or anything. It's a lovely name.