Love a name and need your help
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| Sun, 02-11-2007 - 9:53am |
Hello everyone-
its been forever since I was here. In fact my baby is now 6 years old! We're starting to plan #3- didn't think we would ever have anymore but we both would like another.
Names are an obsession of mine. So I'm already thinking and planning. We have 2 daughters and a son. Both girls have "H"names and just when I thought I didn't like any more H names I heard the name Helena pronounced Ha-Lain-a. I'm concerned about the spelling. If I spell it the traditional way- Helena I'm afraid no one will ever pronounce it right and call her Ha-Leen-a or Helen-a. But on the other hand I'm not all that crazy about funky spellings either. My moms name is Elaine so it would be nice to get the Lain in there but what do you think? Helena? Helainah? Helanah? Helayna?
I also cannot come up with a middle name. Any ideas would be great!
Thanks so much! KCH

Love the name, and DEFINITELY go with the proper Helena spelling. Anything other than that just looks off and Helena is a known enough name, I'm sure it won't get mispronounced. What about...
Helena Charlotte
Helena Scarlett
Helena Corinne
Helena Sage
Helena Blythe
Helena Faye
Helena Bridget
Helena Mabel
HTH,
-Nikki
What a beautiful name! I really like it. I see your point, though, about the pronunciation. One complication there is that HELena and HeLAYna are BOTH correct pronunciations of this name, so it is reasonable to predict that some people will say "HELena," and others will say "HeLAYna." (Helena Bonham Carter, for example, uses the first pronunciation.)
But I also think that some of the alternatives you've suggested are MORE likely to be mispronounced than the traditional spelling of Helena. One looks to me like it would be pronounced "HelANNa" or "HelONNa." Another looks to me like "Hel-INE-a."
Personally, I would go with the traditional spelling and just tell people how to pronounce it - - no one should be surprised because HeLAYna is a traditional pronunciation. In other words, it is not one of those names that is spelled so unusually or "kre8ively" that it will be problematic, in my opinion.
If I HAD to pick an alternate spelling for Helena, though, I guess I would go with Helayna. To my eye, there is just one way to pronounce it - - HeLAYna.
I LOVE "Helanah"...
Pronounced like it is written, very unique and quite eliquent.
: }
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Carly + Phil
proud parents of our four princesses: Alaina Rhoslyn (Lainey) 2.15.07, twins Georgia Carol and Natalia Lorraine (Gigi and Talia) 7.31.08, Penelope Julia (Penny) 8.25.10 and our newest littl
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