Baby Name Help - Argyle,TX

I had a coworker whose daughter is Eliana. He is from a Spanish speaking country. His daughter is 9 yrs old now and was born right after the Elian Gonzalez thing that happened in Miami. Because of the time frame, I just thought it was a feminine version of Elian. So, yes, I've heard of the name before.
I think people down here pronounce Gabriella with the long A because the masculine version, Gabriel, is pronounced with a long A.

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Eleana will probably get mispronounced but Eliana or Elliana will not. My concern, though is that ELLianA (regardless of spelling) is so close in sound to GabriELLA. Don't get me wrong, I think Elliana is a gorgeous name.

How about this... Marie and Grace are so very common as middle names, probably because they sound so good with pretty much anything as a first name. What if you went with one of those as a first name? Marie (or Grace) is a such a sweet, pretty name and it would be just as charming and feminine as Gabriella AND it would be a nice compliment as a sibling set.

I could also almost guarantee that there wouldn't be any other little Maries in your daughter's school, but there would probably be a bunch of little girls with names ending in -iana, starting in Ell- and I'm sure there would be at least one other Elliana. :-)

What about Elsbeth or Elspeth (a form of Elisabeth, another Biblical tie) Marie (or Grace)?

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I like the name! Just be aware that right now, "Elena" (pronounced Eee-LAY--nah) is a popular girl's name, so you may end up with people accidentally calling her that. But if you stick to teaching her how to say it, and you and your family and friends are consistent in calling her by her properly pronounced name, all will be well.

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It's a given that a child's name will be mispronounced at some point, just roll with it! I certainly wouldn't let that stop me from naming my child a name I loved. If someone mispronounces it you can simply say, "Oh, it's actually GAB-riella or EL-eana" with a smile.

I live in SoCal and always have, and people have mispronounced my kids names which are simply Daniel and Sara! But with Matthias I have had no problems, go figure ; )

Eleana Grace is a beautiful choice, BTW. Congrats!!

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i think people dont mean to misspronounce the name its just the texan accent. i like the name you chose if the baby is a girl.

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Well first I'll say that I LOVE the name Eleana or Eliana. I am a pure-bred Texan and I have to tell you that I would immediately pronounce those names differently because of the spelling.

The first, Eleana, I would pronouce E-Lane-Ah and the second, Eliana, I would pronounce El-e-Ah-Nna like Brianna with an El in front.

I'm not sure other than the ending how others are mis-prounoucing your other daughters name. It seems pretty clear how to say it to me. But I'm probably one of the ones mis-prounouncing!! LOL

Regardless, good luck!

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I live just 30 minutes or so from you, and I have a 5-year old Eliana. Honestly, her name almost never gets misprounced! I get tons of compliments on her name too. I say go for it!

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I like Eliana! Gabriella is a little over done right now...

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I like Elena. Similar but with less chance of it being butchered!

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If that's the name you want, then go for it. And there is no harm in politely correctly folks if they mispronounce it. My oldest is Gianna (it's Italian, a female version of John -- she is named after my husband's grandfather, Giovanni). We pronounce it "Jee-AH-na" but it is amazing how many people call her Gina or even "Jee-ann-na" so we're used to politely correcting people. But I have no regrets -- we love her name! And my youngest is Julianna, we prounce it "Jool-ee-AH-na" (it's an Italian pronounciation although we didn't spell it the Italian way which is Guiliana), but for some reason everyone says "Jool-ee-ann-na" even though they here us prounce it with the "ah". Who knows why? But again, I have no regrets!

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I think the spelling "Eliana" (Eliana Grace!) is more likely to be understood as to pronunciation. The worst people would probably say is "Elly-anna" (rhymes with banana), which isn't too far off.

My last name is unusual, and rarely does a stranger pronounce it properly. It makes sense once it's heard. You just have to get used to that sort of thing.

There's nothing wrong with your little girl gently correcting the pronunciation of her name, as long as she corrects gently and doesn't yell, "It's Gahb-ree-el-la, you stupid idiot!"

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To combat the TX mindset and slang, you could consider the following: name her Elliana, Ellie Ana, or Elaina. Most will probably chop the first E and just call her Lena.

Layna is Greek for light, truth.
Janae means "God's gracious gift"

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Hi M.,

Name the baby what you want. You're in TX now but you may move again. Once a name is learned it is pronounced correctly. Unless you are making up a name and there is no known pronunciation, you should be fine. My name is M.. I've been called ME-ME, Mim-E, Mamy, and My-My...M. is about the only safe one :)

Congratuations!

M.

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I love Eleana! It's one of my most favorite nams, and Watermark has a song with that title:) I think you may have to pronounce it for some people, but it's a beautiful name

I think Eleana is a beautiful name. I think I like Grace better than Marie - it flows beautifully with Eleana.

I named my son Zachary, for Zachariah, meaning "God has remembered". Also, Zacharias was the father of John the Baptist.

Anyhoo, I pronounce his name Zak-A-ry, not Zak-er-y. And I never shorten it to Zach - But many people do. He doesn't mind the Zach

I say go for it - this is your child - the name is beautiful - she will learn to correct people like her sister if she has to.

Congratulations on your soon-to-be bundle of joy.

God Bless

i love eleana! it could get mispronounced but alot of names can. my sons name is xander and people call him all kids of crazy! its pronounced zander but people say X ander, xavier( not to sure why) and a variety of other names. my youngest daughters name is Abbe and she got into a fight with a teacher that kept telling her that on her papers she needed to write her legal name of abigal, well thats not her legal name! she will also tell people thats not my name and it makes people mad when she ignores em when they call her abigal! as for your older daughter and people mispronouncing her name well thats an easy thing to do. my exhusbands cousins name is danielle and we are very close to them, she is my oldest daughters godmother, she is 7 and she still calls her daniel! lol.......not to sure why! good luck and I would name your baby what you want to and i personally think eleana sounds beautiful!

I like Eliana better, eleana will be pronounced Elena/Alaina. I also like elina, Elena, Alaina, elliana. I'm surprised people pronounce Gabrielle wrong, gabe-riel is how the male version is pronounced, but some people just don't get it I guess! I also like Amelia, Brianna, Francesca, Gianna, Isabella, Josephine, Juliana, liliana, Mariana, Olivia, Paloma, Sofia/Sophia, stefania, Tatiana, Vanessa, Valentina, Veronica.

Our neighbor's daughter's name is Alayna - still pronounced the same as Eleana but less likely to be mispronounced because of the spelling.

I have a little 3 yo girl in my Choir class I teach and her name is Liana, very similar to the one you have picked and I love it, the other kids in the class don't seem to have trouble with it. I have three boys so I never got to use my girl name but it was one of those difficult to say names, when we first picked it I had to call and ask my dad if he could say it right, and as long as he could then I was okay if everyone else had trouble with it, I could correct them but if a family member couldn't say it right then that was a problem for me. but it was a name I loved and I was going to use it anyway, but alas I have only boys so Airaceli Grace just wasn't meant to be in our house :)

I say go for it! personally I hate how Texans like to shorten names without my permission... My name is S. not "Sal" I don't like Sal and I never will!!! good for you for calling your daughter Gabriella instead of Gabby, I once had to correct one of my sons teachers for shortening my sons name.

I have to admit reading the name I still don't think I am saying it correct I usually have to hear a name being said before I feel confident. But with that being said my name. Which is a name that you really can't say wrong I still have people who have issues with it! usually try to say a completely different and more common name! So if you love it use it!!!

No matter what you name your child people will mispronounce and maybe mispell it too (even if you spell it normally and not creatively).

I personally like Cheyenne Nicole.

if you like that name, then use it! My name is A. pronounced Ah-lay-nah and it is almost always mispronounced on a first meeting. Particularly if people are reading it. But. That doesn't mean I wish I had another name! If you like it...go for it!

I do love the name too, in Greek we use Eleni (ee len ee) and I considered that name too!

I think it has the potential to be mispronounced, but probably no more than Gabriella. Go for it if you like it!

That's the name my mom wanted me to name my daughter. i thought that it was pretty, but i had a name picked out since i was in middle school. absolutely would not consider anything else. my daughters name is Braleigh. I get Briley, Bailey, Bra-leigh(like bra), and any number of other things. my daughter won't correct (she's 7) but her brother who is 4 sure does correct for her ;). name mess ups happen all the time. nothing you can do about it. you could name her Jane and someone would call her Joan or some such. name what you like.