Are these names too weird to use?
[name]Leilani[/name] (lay-lah-nee)
Iruera (ee-ru-eh-rah)
Airini (eye-ree-nee)
Iraia (ee-ry-ah)
Thanks, [name]Jess[/name] x
The Hawaiian name [name]Leilani[/name] is the only name I recognize and I would only use it as a quirky middle name. The other names I’ve never heard before - are they made up or are they legitimate? The name [name]Irene[/name] can be pronounced with three syllables like in “The Forsyte Chronicles” by [name]John[/name] Galsworthy (eye-ree-nee). Airini looks like it should be “air-ree-nee”. I can see lots of pronunciation issues for them. Sorry but they’re not my style.
[name]Leilani[/name] is pretty recognizable; I’d say it’s the most usable of these options. Airini has a lovely sound, but would probably serve better if it was spelled in the usual English way, as [name]Irene[/name] (or, if you wanted to make sure the third syllable was spelled out, Irenie). The others I’m not too keen on.
The others are maori names, like my daughter’s name (Amiria). Was just wondering if any other maori names were as accessible to a western ear… apparently not! The others are even more unusual!! Thanks anyway!
Well, I do like some Maori names like Ngaire, [name]Ngaio[/name], [name]Kiri[/name], Kura and [name]Marika[/name]. The names on your list just didn’t ring a bell and seemed very hard to pronounce.
I [name]LOVE[/name] the name Amiria, but I think the names on your list (except [name]Leilani[/name]) are just too difficult for people to pronounce. The spellings don’t really lend to the pronunciation, so it seems like she would be constantly correcting/explaining her name to people. I speak from personal experience- I am constantly correcting people on the spelling of my name.
At first glance, my head was sort of spinning a bit- so many vowels! But when I wrote down each name individually, only Iruera seemed insurmountably difficult to pronounce, and Airini is flirting with too out there- just on the border to me. I agree that [name]Leilani[/name] is by far the easiest, but I don’t think Iraia is totally out of the question. It’s maybe slightly challenging, but I pronounced it right on my first try.
I like [name]Leilani[/name] and always have 
nn [name]Leila[/name] or [name]Lani[/name] would be cute.
I can’t really say Iruera! :S Airini is cute but too close to Amiria in my opening both on paper and in sound. [name]How[/name] about [name]Irina[/name]? These seems to combine Airini and Iraia.
I don’t really know anything about Maori names (except me male cousin’s named after a Maori rugby player!) but I did find this list of great Aboriginal names for girls last night that might interest you - All Archivy - Annie Baby Monitor. One girl could have an Australian Aboriginal name and the other a New Zealand Maori, that could be cute
Good luck!
Thanks everyone. I’ve found a couple more which are slightly less unusual. What do you think of these?
Erenora - eh-reh-nor-a
Mariama - mah-ree-ah-ma - too close to Amiria?
There’s always the name Aroha, it means love and mercy (pronounced ah row ah). Or you could always use an aboriginal name like someone suggested, I quite like Allora (pronounced ah laur ah) .
[name]Do[/name] what you feel is right. It seems like Maori names have special meaning, so go for it. You will always have people who will be judgmental and not understand, but bottom line is do you like it?
Btw, Aboriginal names means many, many different things.
I quite like Mariama but can’t decide if I think it sounds too close to Amiria or not. What would Mariama’s shorter name be? [name]Mari[/name]? [name]Mary[/name]?
[name]Amy[/name] and [name]Mari[/name] sounds cute.
There’s also [name]Mariana[/name] which takes it further away from Amiria but doesn’t have the Maori connection. [name]Mariana[/name] could be shortened to [name]Anna[/name] or [name]Annie[/name] too. I think I actually prefer Mariama though, it seems that bit warmer and softer to me.
Erenora is cute but will probably often be missheard as [name]Eleonora[/name]. If this doesn’t bother you though I think [name]Amy[/name] and [name]Nora[/name] are very sweet together!
If you plan on having more children in future though I’d make sure there are a few Maori names you like for boys and girls before you tie yourself into that pattern.
Best of luck 
The pronunciations aren’t overly strange - that is, they take explaining, because there are other possible pronunciations, but there are no letters said in a completely different way from what we’re used to. AI as long I and I as long E are familiar enough.
Copied because I agree:
Do what you feel is right. It seems like Maori names have special meaning, so go for it. You will always have people who will be judgmental and not understand, but bottom line is do you like it?
Incidentally, what are the meanings of these names?
I don’t think the first ones you posted are easy to say, except for [name]Leilani[/name], but Erenora sounds similar to names like [name]Eudora[/name] and [name]Elenora[/name], so I think that one is just fine. Mariama is too close to Amiria in my opinion.
I thought the pronunciations of all the names you listed were pretty intuitive. Iruera, however, is hard for me to say. I agree with others that Mariama is too close to Amiria; both are composed solely of the letters a, i, m and r, and they have the same number of syllables.
[name]Leilani[/name], Airini and Iraia all sound very pretty to me.