View Message

Elena, Ellen or Elaine...? (more)
If you had to choose, which one of these? I love all of them. Could you rank and comment on them? Why do you like or dislike them? Thanks :)Elena - and how do you pronounce it?
Ilinca
Ellen
Ileana
Elaine
Ilenia
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

ElaineElaine is beautiful and dignified. The Arthurian association gives the name a sense of both fantasy and history making it more interesting.Elena is pretty and princessy even without the association to Disney's Elena of Avalor, but it doesn't have the same type of dignified appeal or legendary heritage the way Elaine does.Ellen is nice, clean, and sensible. It isn't terribly romantic, but it has a sense of solid tradition.
vote up1
I like Elena and Ellen, probably the former a bit more. I pronounce it eh-LAY-nuh.I've never cared for Ileana. I don't like the look of the I and L together. Eliana, which is similar, looks better to me.Ilinca sounds strange to me as an English-speaker. I don't like the "link" part.Elaine has always come off as boring to me. It's fine, but just very vanilla.Ilenia sounds like "millennia" to me.
vote up1
1. Elena -- Prettiest and I'm familiar with it. I pronounce it e-LAYNE-a.2. Elaine -- Kind of dated, but has a medieval feel that I like.3. Ellen -- I don't like it but it's better than the lower ranked ones. Plain and white bread.4. Ileana -- Sounds like a jumble of vowels.5. Ilenia -- Ditto6. Illinca -- Don't like that "link" sound.
vote up1
I LOVE Elena pronounced eh-LAY-nah. I first heard it in the Vampire Dairies which I started watching when I was about 13? It's been on my long list ever since and now and then makes an appearance in my top ten dependent on my mood. I love the nickname Lena (LAY-nah). Plus my sister is Ellie so it's a little nod towards her.I don't like Ellen - I think it sounds abrupt and cold - I much prefer Ellie or Ella.The others aren't to my taste either; Ilinca, Ileana and Ilenia all look too foreign to my eye and I'd have no idea how to say them. While Elaine is a lady in her 50-70s to me; couldn't see it on a child for at least another 20-30 years.
vote up1
Hi Perrine!!!My rank is definetly the same of your..Elena 7 - I pronounce it EH-leh-nah.
It is elegant and quite unusual.
It has somenthing aristocratic in it.
It is simple to pronounce and it is ageless.Ilinca 7 - I love this variant.
It is fascinating and very strong!Ellen 7 - This is my favourite Engish variant of it.
It has a lovely Medieval sound. It is a Ken Follett' s character (The Pillars of the Earth) so I like it.Ileana 6 - Boring imo. Nice sound but it is not enough.Elaine 4 - It seems dated and tacky imoIlenia 2 - I hate this name..
It has an horrible sound.
...Eleni (the Modern Greek variant) is good too! It has a 8
Hélène is ok but quite snobbish imo but has 6.5
Yelena is nice! It would be 7

This message was edited 4/9/2017, 2:14 AM

vote up1
I love Ellen and it would easily be my first choice. Second choice would be Ileana, followed by Elena. I really dislike the others.
vote up1
My favorite is Elena, by far. The sound is more pleasing, and has less of a frumpy mom vibe to me then Ellen or Elaine. I hate admitting that -- and there is truly nothing wrong with frumpiness, and absolutely nothing wrong with moms! -- but Elena (which I pronounce 'El-ay-nuh' or 'El-enn-uh', depending on how the bearer pronounces it... I've only met Elenas with those pronunciations) has a more beautiful sound to me, and feels younger.

This message was edited 4/8/2017, 9:47 PM

vote up1
I'd choose EllenRanked:
Ellen
Elena
Elaine
Ileana & Ilenia
IlincaI pronounce Elena: EE-AY-NAH
vote up1
I like Elena best, followed by ElaineElena where I'm from is said as E-lay-nuh for the most part. I also enjoy the Eh-leh-nuh pron
vote up1
EllenNone of them are 'bad' to me, but I think Ellen has such a classic, understated beauty to it. Elaine seems dated to me but it is pretty. The rest don't really strike my fancy, but again, none are bad.I pronounce Elena like Elaine with an 'uh' on the end.If I had to rank them it would be:Ellen
Elaine
Ilenia
Ilinca
Elena
Ileana (just because I'm tired of hearing -iana names)
vote up1