View Message

New Post
Search
Help
Archives
Question?
by eLLe (MonaLisa)
7/2/2005, 8:23 PM
Leni is a nickname for Helen / Helena, so is it pronounced LAY-nee, LEN-ee, or LEE-nee? How does Heidi Klum pronounce her daughter's name, which is Leni? I prefer the name Helena w/ the nn Leni pronounced LAY-nee.
Reply
vote up1vote down

Replies

- Emily (guest)   +4
7/3/2005, 9:50 AM
Is Helena pronounced (Hel-Ay-Nah)?
Reply
vote up1vote down
- ADT   +3
7/3/2005, 7:55 PM
It's: Hel-ehn-ah
Reply
vote up1vote down
- eLLe (MonaLisa)   +2
7/4/2005, 6:53 AM
No, it's Hel - ay - nah. I've met a few.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- Siri (guest)   +1
7/5/2005, 8:50 PM
Its BOTHIt varies from place to place.Siri
Reply
vote up1vote down
- Array (WeloveyouJesseLacey)
7/6/2005, 9:39 PM
It's also hel-LEE-nah, depending on where you are.I say it all three ways, which means it's probably a good thing I wouldn't seriously consider it--I'd have to leave it up to her to decide how to say it!Array
"What are these parents thinking?...Let's name her Madison--she'll live in her own world: 16 square miles surrounded by reality." -- Susan Lampert Smith
Reply
vote up1vote down
- Jen (guest)   +5
7/3/2005, 5:57 AM
This one may vary by country, but Leni Reifenstahl, the film director, pronounced it LAY-nee. (She was German)
Reply
vote up1vote down
- ADT   +3
7/3/2005, 7:54 PM
um, no she didn't...Erm, I'm a film student soon to have my Hons. BA - and she pronounced it Lehn-y.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- Jen (sontag)   +2
7/3/2005, 8:48 PM
I've got a BFA from NYU film school too, if you feel the need to compare credentials. In the US, at least, that's how her name is pronounced. She's widely discussed, as you know. I've heard non-Americans--as there were many in film school--pronounce Leni Reifenstahl this way as well (last name = reef-en-shtahl, nearly rayf-en-shtahl or rife-en-shtahl), but I am certainly open to the notion that when speaking German it would sound different. I have a German surname that sounds quite different in the middle of a sentence in English than it does in German. As I said, this one probably varies by country. However, Leni Reifenstahl is pronounced LAY-nee by professors, documentarians, admirers and detractors; she's quite a woman (she was; she passed away only recently). Congratulations on your honors.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- ADT   +1
7/4/2005, 12:57 PM
Thank you. Perhaps we've watched different documentaries but I haven't heard it pronounced any other way.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- ADT
7/4/2005, 12:59 PM
also....How about Leni from "Run Lola Run" - he pron. it Lehn-y ...
Reply
vote up1vote down
- eLLe (MonaLisa)
7/3/2005, 7:26 AM
Thanks so much! :)
Reply
vote up1vote down
- ADT   +3
7/2/2005, 8:25 PM
Answer...You best bet would be to search for some sort of fan site of whoever that is instead of a website about the etymology of names.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- eLLe (MonaLisa)   +2
7/2/2005, 8:34 PM
I just wanted to know how you pronounce Leni and that is what this board is for. I was just wondering if anyone actually knew what Heidi Klums daughter's pronounciation because she used the name and this is a name site and that's all I wanted to know...just a name.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- Jade (guest)
7/5/2005, 6:55 AM
its pronounced Lenny like lenny henry so dats it.
Reply
vote up1vote down
- Miranda (Randee15)
7/2/2005, 10:05 PM
eLLe's right. This board is also for questions about proper pronunciation(s).
Miranda
"Come... you must eat my child." — From a badficProud adopter of 15 punctuation marks; see my profile for their names.
Reply
vote up1vote down