Alternative to Lyra?

Girl Names
1

I recently came across the name [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], which I assumed was pronounced leer-uh. While some people I have asked also say they also read leer-uh, the majority say they would pronounce [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] lie-ruh.
So I have two questions for you: 1.) [name_f]Do[/name_f] you read [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] like leer-uh, like lie-ruh, or maybe something else? And if you read it lie-ruh, do you have any spelling suggestions to have it read leer-uh? and 2.) [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think this would be a significant issue with a real life [name_f]Lyra[/name_f]?
Thanks so much

2

There was a thread about this a little ways back, and overall people felt it could go either way. I feel pretty strongly that [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] should be Lie-ra to be correct, because it comes from the instrument lyre, which sounds just like liar. But when I first came across the name in “The [name_u]Golden[/name_u] Compass,” I initially thought it was Leer-a and definitely see the appeal.

For spelling, maybe Lira, though that’s not appealing to everyone since it’s Italian money, and it’s still a little ambiguous. The most obvious spelling would be Leera, but that really brings out the “leer.” A full name like Lyrica would get the pronunciation you want, and then it’s easy to shorten for a nickname.

3

I have always read it as lie-ruh.

Maybe Leira/Liera? I like the previous poster’s suggestion of using a full name like Lyrica to get the correct probunciation.

Or, if you just like [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], you could just spell it that way and say it leer-uh. People will probably catch on fairly quickly, if you tell them that this is how you will be saying the name.

4

  1. I say, and would read [name_f]Lyra[/name_f] as Lie-ruh. I didn’t really think about the other pronunciation, and I personally try to avoid the ‘leer’ syllable.

  2. I still think you can get that pronunciation with [name_f]Lyra[/name_f], but I think there would be a few explanations. I’d say Lira is the best bet, as the leer-uh pronunciation is more obvious, which I think outweighs the currency connection.

5

Have you considered/heard of Allira? It’s pronounced uh-leer-uh, and you could use lira as a nn.