Opinions on this name (and advice needed from people with hard to pronounce names)

[RedOakMomma]

All you name-obsessed mamas, I need your opinions.

:D

I love the name Elena, but only as it's pronounced "El-eh-nuh"/"Ellen-uh"...the Brits say "Eleanor" this way, and I have always loved the name.

But here's the deal...I'm afraid I'll be giving our daughter a name she'll hate, because she'll always have to be correcting people on how to say it. For those of you with hard-to-prounounce first names, or people who have given their kids tricky first names, how bad is it? So bad you wish you had a different name?

I've looked all over the web, and there seem to be four different pronounciations of it--all of which are used in the US.

Would choosing this name be a mistake? How big of a deal is correcting pronounciation? Is it something that happens all the time, or just when you enter a new social setting (going to college, at a new job, when a stranger introduces you, etc.)?

Opinions, please!

[Amandamanda]

i think that Ellen-uh is a beautiful name, but with a spelling of Elena, that personally reads to me (and DH!) as E-lay-nuh. i know quite a few elena's all pronounced that way.

what if you added a letter? like Ellena? that is very obviously Ellen-uh to me. or what about Elenna with two n's..

just a thought :)

[graceomalley]

I say ellen-uh. I think it's a really cute name.

[Catherine12]

If it was spelled Ellena, I would pronounce it as you described... Elena to me reads as "Elayna".

[Ligeia]

I agree with adding another letter to it to make it more obvious. I really like the name personally. It's very elegant and feminine.

[mamabutterfly]

I agree that spelling will most often be said "El-AY-na". I guess you don't care for Eleanor as much? That woudn't be mispronounced.

I think it depends a little how simple your last name is. My own is one you have to spell for people every single time (weird vowels) and when I married we hypenated. My daughter (and new baby coming) have this last name and I have only considered phoneticly spelled names for the most part. I just find it a drag to spell my last name ALL the time, and at least my first name only has one spelling.
Some people probably wouldn't be bothered at all by this, but for me it's a consideration in names. Like if this is a boy I like Elliott, but there are so many possibilities of "L"s and "T"s so it would have to be spelled out all the time I think.

[Hesperia]

Not at all name-obsessed, but I thought I would give it a go any how.

I read Elena as El-uh-na, but a very close sound between Ellen-uh, very faint.

Gosh, this is tricky. I keep getting them mixed up, and I've said the name so many times over that it starting to sound off, don't you hate when that happens.

I don't think this is a hard name to pronounce, there is just more room for error then a name like Sara. In short, I'm saying go with it, she will most likely love her name, but give her an easy to say/read middle name in case she ever wishes to go by that. To me, middle names are like erasers, just in case ;)

Best luck on naming your little one.

[hyz]

I would most definitely pronounce that Eh-LAY-nuh, sorry to say, and it looks like most people on the poll would, also. I would avoid a name like that, personally. My name has two possible American pronunciations, probably 80% of people say it the way I do, and 20% say the vowels differently--I don't know why, but I find it really irritating when someone pronounces my name the "wrong" way--and it happens fairly often. The other pronunciation just doesn't "sound" like me, so it's kinda like fingernails on a chalkboard.

I also don't love the solution of making up a new spelling to try make it more phonetic--I don't think it looks as nice, and she'll be spelling it her whole life for people. And for what it's worth, I would probably pronounce Ellena as Eh-LAY-nuh too, the first time I saw it. I think Elenna would get the pronunciation you want, but it reminds me of Glenda or something--not so nice (ETA: Wait, actually, Elenna would be Eh-LEN-uh, whereas you're looking for EH-len-uh--I'm not sure there's anyway you can reliably get people to say your pronunciation, unless you actually went with Helena, which people know because of the Montana capitol). If it were me, I'd just pick another name, or go with Eleanor and maybe call her "ellen-uh" as a nickname.

[bluepetals]

For whatever reason, my first name was usually a challenge to at least one teacher at the start of each school year (it seems like an easy name, but where I went to school it was not at all common - I was the only Shauna I knew until going away to college!). Really, it's not that big a deal. You get used to it. We have to correct people a lot on DS's name as well (my DH insisted on putting an o in it, even though we pronounce it 'fin'). I kinda roll my eyes but it's more directed at my stubborn DH than anyone else, LOL!

[momtoafireteam]

My name is Nicola, another good brit name. Its pronounced Nickel-uh, but here in the US EVERYONE says "Nick-oh-luh" like Coca Cola. It actually doesnt bother me too much.

However, Elena seems fairly self explanatory to me, maybe because I am a brit. Ell-uh-nuh. Good Luck!

[lovingmommyhood]

If it was spelled Ellena, I would pronounce it as you described... Elena to me reads as "Elayna".

:nod

Around here that is pronounced Elayna as well.

[N8'sMom]

I would say it as ....EEE-Lay-Nuh

[MommaSomeday]

My name is Rachele (RAY-chul) and it gets mispronounced ALL the time. I've had RA-shell, ra-KELL, something that sounds like racial, and even more. It's never bothered me, I just correct them with a smile. I would pronounce Elena as E-lay-nuh as well, until I was corrected, that is. :) I like the Ellen-uh pronounciation, and think adding the extra L might help it be pronounced that way, but it's really no big deal. :)

[~Megan~]

I read it as Ee-lay-nah.

[Amylcd]

I would pronounce it E-Lay-Nuh (because that's my best friends name :) )

[thixle]

I don't think this is a hard name to pronounce, there is just more room for error then a name like Sara...

hehe, my name is Sarah and it gets mispronounced all the time: Say-rah :eyesroll I live in the south... I can still see my 3rd grade teacher, "SAY-rah, are you paying attention?" I wouldn't answer to it, but it was the end of the school year and she still got it wrong!
I think some people are just bad at pronouncing names and sometimes assume it must be the "odd" pronunciation, because parents give their babies really odd names now :D

And I think Ellena is a beatuiful name, but I only pronounce it Ellen-uh with that spelling. Elana/Elena comes out eh-lay-na even when I know better :o

[Britishmama]

FWIW my son has a simple name and DH and people say them wrong, I wouldn't let that bother you

[weddell]

We thought about naming dd Helena but I decided against for the same reason you are worried about. Even though Helena (said Helen-uh as the capital of Montana and for a famous actress), but everyone I asked said they would say it He-Lay-Na so I decided against using it.

[celestialdreamer]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. You could spell it Ellena to make it obvious that the sound is slightly different than most people would assume. Really though, people mispronounce very simple common names too. My dd is Anna (Ann-uh) and she frequently gets called On-na when people read her name before hearing it. Also our last name looks more like a typical German pronounciation than it is, and is almost always mispronounced. I just give up on these things personally. Name your baby whatever you like :D

[RedOakMomma]

I love the name...I just can't give up on it!

We're considering "Elinor" (I'm a Jane Austen fan), but I prefer the way Brits say it, rather than the American El-ih-NOR. Our original name (has been for years) was Evelyn, but I think that's getting too popular. It's in the 30's/40's the past couple of years in our state, and only going higher.

So what's do you all think looks better and would get more people to say "ellen-uh"...

Ellena

or

Elenna

And on that note, how weird would it be to "create" a spelling of a name...I've never really liked that trend (Madisyn, etc.), so I'm struggling with the idea of doing it. :o

[jodie84]

I have a friend called Ellenor pronounced Ellen-uh.

[XanaduMama]

If it was spelled Ellena, I would pronounce it as you described... Elena to me reads as "Elayna".

:yeah:

Exactly.

[AnnieA]

I have a difficult to pronounce and spell first name in real life and I must say, it has been a source of frustration for me my whole life. Having a difficult to spell and pronounce last name growing up didn't help and then when I got married, my new last name was even MORE difficult to pronounce and spell.:eyesroll So I always vowed that if I ever had a child, I would make sure that their name was easy to pronounce and easy to spell. But the other posters are correct when they say that sometimes, people just have a hard time pronouncing even easy names. So I say, name her what you wish.

[Ruthla]

I know an Elenah and her name is pronounced "Ellen-uh" so that's what I associate with the name. If I knew another Elenah who pronounced it differently I'd quickly get used to it.

Similarly, I know several women and girls named Lea or Leah. Some of them pronounce it "Lee-uh" and some pronounce it "Lay-uh" and one uses both pronunciations interchangably!

Go ahead and use whatever name you love for your DD. It's really not THAT hard for her to correct the teachers on the first day of school, if she attends school. And I'm sure she'll smile sweetly at Simon and correct him when he mispronounces her name at her American Idol audition! :lol

Or you could spell it Ellenna.

[atobols]

Elenna is the only spelling I would look at and pronounce the way you want it said.

I found it very irritating growing up when people couldn't say my name, but I have now gotten used to it. I tried and tried to correct people, but it doesn't work. Some people just cannot pronounce it correctly. They would struggle and really try, but couldn't do it. I eventually gave up and don't even notice when someone says it wrong anymore. So, in my experience, Andrea is a name to avoid if you don't want it said wrong.

[Marieke]

So what's do you all think looks better and would get more people to say "ellen-uh"...

Ellena

or

Elenna

The former. The latter spelling for me puts the emphasis on the N's/second half of the name, not the L's/first half of the name.

And on that note, how weird would it be to "create" a spelling of a name...I've never really liked that trend (Madisyn, etc.), so I'm struggling with the idea of doing it. :o

To be very honest, it's a trend I hate. The unusual spelling might help people pronounce it, but it may raise issues when your daughter says her name and people try to spell it.

You could have the most normal name in the world and some people are always going to pronounce it in the way that you don't like or hadn't expected.

In my particular case, we named our son Dashiell (like the author Dashiell Hammett, and Cate Blanchett's son). Pronounced "da-SHEEL" (as for the author's name also). Plenty of people and my husband sometimes does it too, prefer the more "DASH-el" pronounciation, and then you have people who think it's a girl's name and try the three syllable Dash-ee-ell (like Danielle) on for size.

Frustrating? yes, certainly, and we hadn't anticipated that people would have quite so many issues with it (Dash-el I can understand and live with, it's the girly pronounciation that gets me).

I'm sure our son might find it somewhat irritating at times, but my husband and I do still love the name, and hopefully the minor irritation will be outweighed by the unusualness and "coolness" (well, we think so, and it's on the rise in popularity) of the name.



Marieke (I won't get into how hard it is for people to pronounce my name in English speaking countries, but then I'm Dutch and this is a traditionally Dutch name, so it wasn't some weird naming decision on my parents part ;) )

[Ilaria]

Eh-lena.
That's how we pronounce it in Italian...