pronunciation of Elena

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-11-2005
pronunciation of Elena
5
Fri, 11-11-2005 - 5:02pm

pronunciation of Elena



  • E-lay-nuh
  • E-lee-nuh
  • I prefer E-lee-nuh, what do you think


You will be able to change your vote.


iVillage Member
Registered: 10-27-2005
Fri, 11-11-2005 - 6:28pm

My name growing up (which I only use with family now) was Elaina, my parents' phonetic spelling of Elena, after Russian figure skaters (they're big fans). It's a form of Helen/Elaine traditional in Russian, Greek and Spanish, and in my experience always pronounced with a long A in the middle. If you want a long E sound, I'd go with Elina. There's actually a Barbie doll in the 'Fairytopia' line with that name right now, she's also a character in the Barbie Fairytopia movie. Whether the pop culture relevance is a plus or minus is up to you, but it would make the name, spelling and pronunciation more familiar to many families with young girls. I had years of hassle trying to get people to spell and pronounce my name correctly, not as Elaine, Alanna, Helena, Helaine, etc. Pronouncing Elena with a long E sounds like an enormous amount of frustration to me for you and your daughter.

Josie.

iVillage Member
Registered: 06-14-2003
Fri, 11-11-2005 - 6:34pm
Are you asking what pronunciation we PREFER or which one we would use if we saw "Elena"?
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-14-2005
Fri, 11-11-2005 - 9:00pm

I know/have met many people of all different ages with this name/spelling. Almost all of them pronounce it Eh-lay-nuh, but a couple pronounce it EL-ena. I've NEVER seen/heard it pron. with a long E.

That said, I think that pronounciation is very pretty. And if you want to use it, I say go for it. But I think you need to tweek the spelling to indicate that. Eleena, Aleena, or Alina perhaps. I like the Alina spelling best, actually.

Good luck!

Image hosted by Photobucket.com


Photobucket
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-02-2005
Fri, 11-11-2005 - 10:09pm
Well my first thought was to go with E-lay-nuh but then I said E-lee-nah to myself and i really like it. I've never heard it before, its fresh and to me E-lay-nuh reminds me of an old woman. So I definitely agree with you. good luck
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2005
Sat, 11-12-2005 - 10:40am
I would pronounce Elena as E-lay-nuh. If you prefer the pronunciation E-lee-nuh, I would simply spell it Elina (or even Alina). I think most people are familiar with the name and pronunciation of Lina (my grandmother's name, which I'd always thought was pretty, by the way), so you should be fine there. Good luck! :)

Powered by CGISpy.com