Good Morning!

My husband & I are expecting our third baby in August & ATM we like Helena (pronounced Ha-lay-na) for a girl but I would like to know the different spelling variations please? I thought it could also be spelt Helaina but not sure as it's not coming up in searches...

BTW it's probably another boy but one can hope :-) lol

I'd stick with Helena.

Helena, but I prefer to say it hel-en-a.
Great choice though, if I ever have another girl she will be Helena!

I say Helena like He-lay-na.

I think Helena is best, I don't think I've ever actually seen any other spelling variations. I would automatically pronounce it He-lay-na unless told otherwise.

Lovely name OP

I was about to reply that I thought it should be spelt the same way you put it in the title - but then realised that I was pronouncing it Hel-een-a.

I still think that is the correct way of spelling it now. As I say all three ways to myself in my head, my pronounciation sounds rather bogan and the way you pronounced it seems right...

I'd stick with that spelling too. The other one you suggested looks a bit made-up.
Beautiful name.!

i like hel-en-a with that spelling although not what you asked for i just wanted to let you know im hoping for you too that its a girl.... if its a boy what name/s are you thinking of?

Helena

I don't like any other spelling.

I'd pronounce it Hell-ee-nah or Hell-uh-nuh.

And no, just no to any other spelling - unless you are low class


No, you weren't bogan (gah, I wish that word would just die). Hell-ee-nah is quite common pronounciation in a lot of European countries, including the UK.

In Perth, we have the Helena Valley and the Helena Rivier - both pronouced Hell-ee-nah.

I knew a girl called Helena (prn. He-lay-na) when I was young. I guess the tricky thing is that some people will pronounce as you would like it and others will pronounce it Hell-e-nuh. You will just have to correct them if they get it wrong.

I don't know of any other spellings either - but i would pronounce it hel-en-a

Personally I'd keep the Helena spelling ... and I would pronounce it Hel-ay-na though obviosuly there are other options and people may ask which one - but there are worse things than that in the naming world!

Lovely name.

Please spell it properly.

Don't change the spelling of a beautiful name on the off chance people might pronounce it wrong. People have gotten used to multiple pronunciations of the same name (think Helena Christensen vs Helena Bonham Carter - to use two obvious examples), and people will get used to how you want your daughters name pronounced.

It generally only takes one correction for people to 'get' which way you want it said, if anything you'll probably get more confusion with a misspelling of Helena than you would with the correct spelling - not only would you have pronunciation issues you will have to correct spelling every time someone wrote it - you're doubling the problems.

Please please spell it correctly. It's a lovely name and needs no alteration. Leave it as is it'll be less hassle in the long term, and really, people WILL get it.

Amanda_R said it all.

I think Helena (He-lay-na) is lovely (one of my favourite names in the world is Elena).


I think you'll always have some people mispronouncing (at first anyway) a name, but don't let it put you off using such a lovely one!

Same. We were going to use it if Rafael was a girl, I love it.

Curious why people pronounce it Hel-ay-na when it is an E in the middle not A or AY. The English language is strange

This name is first option for us if we ever have another girl. It is a family name with a strong European background and in our family is always pronounced Hell-ee-na with Lena (Lee-na) or Lenie (Lee-nie) for short. I know that Hell-lay-na is now a common pronunciation of the name too... But I'd always pronounce it Hell-ee-na until told otherwise...

I've never seen any other spelling though... You'd have to make one up if you didn't like this spelling, and I'm not a fan of made up spellings...

I wouldn't worry though, there are a lot of names with more than one common pronunciation and many names with more than one acceptable spelling (such as my own name and DD's)... It's no reason to overlook an otherwise beautiful name or to go changing things round to try and make things 'easier'... I've always had to spell my first and last names and usually my street name etc etc... It just becomes automatic to spout out the spellings any time you have to give your details...

Spell it Helena, and like Amanda_R said, people will get your intention pretty quickly. I always thought it was Hell-en-ah until I met a gorgeous little Hel-ay-na and added the name to my list I don't like the way the name looks written down (because I don't like Helen as a name, and its pretty much identical-looking) but love the sound of it.

Exactly this !

Gorgeous name and pronounced Hel-ay-na

I thought they were the same?

Hel-ay-na Christiansen and Hel-ay-na Bonham Carter. I used to think it was "Hell-en-a," Bonham Carter, but I dunno... for some reason I've changed it over time? Maybe i Heard it in an interview or something?

No I'm eager to find out which is correct... lol.

I think Helena is the correct way to go though OP, given the way you want it pronouced. In Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream, there's a character called Helena, pronounced Hell-en-a, but I think it's one of those names where it can go either way and still work.

I would just leave it as Helena.

Amanda covered everything I thought. And I'd assume it's pronounced with the hard 'A' spelled that way. My 3rd has an Italian name. I thought of modifying it to be more phonetic but it just seemed so wrong to do that. I'm so glad we let it be. Most people get the pronunciation (and tbh we pronounce it slightly different to all the Italians I know).

It is Hell-en-ah BC

I'm pretty sure either pronunciation is "correct". The traditional English way is probably HELL-en-a, and I think Hel-ay-na is more Spanish/European. Jelena (ya-lay-na) is another version (Russian I think).

So it's a case of preferring the Euro-version (or not) I suppose. Which is fine

I love Elena (El-ay-na*, very popular in Spain), but not nearly as keen on Ellen or Eleanor, which are really just different versions of the same thing (all come from Helen I think originally anyway). Curiously, I don't like Elaine much either


*this is still an approximation though; I think in Spanish it'd be a subtle mix of the "eh" and "ay" sound. I love it done that way, like in the Mask of Zorro

There are no variations, it's Helena.

There are different pronunciations of this though, but as long as people know what pronunciation you want there shouldn't be a problem.

So, we finally find out your girl name

OP, i would stick with the original spelling, gorgeous name

I have a friend whose name is pronounced Hel-ay-na but spelt Hellene.