Baby Name Poll Results

I would have said LEE-nuh.

I’ve only ever known Lena to be pronounced Lee-na. But I suppose it could be pronounced Lay-na. Afterall, Helena can be pronounced He-leena or He-layna.

LEE-na

Ive heard it both lee-na or len-ah but NEVER lay-nah! Lee-nah is the prettiest & most popular version of the name.

Our younger daughter’s nickname is Lina, and we’ve always pronounced it LEE-nah. To me, LAYN-nah would be spelled Layna or Laina.

Or Léna. Back home in France, this was the spelling, and it was pronounced LAYN-nah.

Good. Sounding pretty unanimous on LEE-nuh. It didn’t matter to me really which way it was pronounced, I was just hoping most people say it the same way. I actually assumed LAY-nuh would be the more likely pronunciation, but that is how it would be in Spanish and I’m bilingual so it was probably just the Spanish influence in my head.

My friend is named Lena and hers is pronounced as Lay-nuh as well

Ironically, my husband is Panamanian, and I am half Portuguese, half French. We speak Portuguese and Spanish regularly in our house, but we’ve always used the American/English pronunciations of our kids names. We don’t use the Spanish pronunciations.

At least in French, without the accent aigu, Lena would be pronounced LEHN-nah. So I always first see it as LEHN-nah, and then as LEE-nah. That’s part of why we chose the Lina spelling instead of the Lena spelling. In all four languages (English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French), it is pronounce LEE-nah.

Thanks, I do agree with you on the Lina spelling. Might consider it.

North America = lee-nah
Most of Europe = lay-nah

I prefer the European pronunciation because I think it sounds softer and more feminine. If you want "lee-nah", I think Lina is the way to go!