See the results of this poll: Name Pronunciation of Alaia
Respondents: 26 (This poll is closed)
- A-lye-ah : 14 (54%)
- A-lay-uh: 12 (46%)
I would automatically read it as uh-LYE-uh myself, however, as it is for a middle name you are considering it, and it won’t come up as much, particularly spoken out loud, I definitely think you can get away with pronouncing it as you prefer it.
[name_f]Alaia[/name_f] is a lovely little name, with a beautiful meaning.
I automatically thought of the pronunciation [name_m]Ah[/name_m]-[name_m]LAY[/name_m]-ah…I’m from upstate NY if that helps any.
When I first read it I read it as Uh-lye-uh. I think since it’s a middle name is not that big of a deal and you can spell it however you want- it’ll only take one correction.
I’m from southern US if it matters.
I’d read it as uh-lye-uh but I would be surprised by uh-lay-uh
I read it as A-lay-uh. However, since it’s a middle name, I don’t think it matters. Very few people see a middle name written down and try to pronounce it, so it wouldn’t be a frequent annoyance like a hard to pronounce first name. I think both pronunciations, and the spelling of the name, are very pretty