Pronounced AY-uh-nuh, but without any pauses.I think it's a lovely name. I live outside Ireland and it doesn't sound unmasculine to me, but each to their own.
I love this name. :) It makes me think of flowers, spring and summer and the colour of the eye, which I think is a beautiful meaning besides the flower. Iris in Greek mythology is interesting too, and gives the name further lovely associations. I think the sound is soft and simple but beautiful. It's a name for any age, and any personality could grow into it.
Lovely, lovely name. I always imagine someone with this name being friendly, interesting and quite outgoing. It's pretty without being seen as overly frilly or feminine, so it could suit anyone, especially with so many potential nicknames. While it's easily recognisable, here in northern England I've only ever met one Isabel, and no one with other variations of the name.
The only time I've come across this name was reading Mary Webb's 1924 novel, Precious Bane. Kester Woodseaves is the love interest of the main character, and seems quite a positive association; he's hardworking, strong, brave and funny, like the main character herself. The story is tragic, but also incredibly beautiful.Personally the name sounds completely masculine to me. Strong but friendly, too. Despite the similarity in the sound, it didn't make me think of Lester as another commenter mentioned. Esther vaguely came to mind when I first read the name, but the harder K at the beginning made it sound much more masculine to me. Most of all it made me think of 'kestrel', which is an association I really like. I think it's an underused, yet very usable name. :)
If you live in the UK I'd recommend only using this spelling for the pronunciation LOO-ee. Any I've known in England have used that pronunciation, and used Lewis for LOO-is, so it'd avoid a lot of confusion.