Hubby and I love the name Alyria, pronounced uh lie ruh. I figured if the name Georgia has “ia” it can be an uh sound?? Looking for suggestions please. For this name or other. I don’t want my baby to deal with terrible mispronunciations…
I don’t think that spelling is going to get you the pronunciation you want, sorry.
With the name [name_f]Georgia[/name_f], it’s not so much that the “ia” is pronounced “uh”, but that “gi” can make a “j” sound, similar to the way that “ti”, “ci” or “si” can make a “sh” sound, in names like [name_f]Portia[/name_f], [name_f]Lucia[/name_f] and [name_f]Kasia[/name_f]. But this softening effect doesn’t work for all consonants.
If you want “uh-LYE-ruh”, I would go with something like Alyra or Elyra. Alyria says “ah-LIH-ree-uh”, like Illyria with an A, to me.
yeah, that makes sense. I was also considering Alayra or [name_f]Alaira[/name_f], [name_f]Alaira[/name_f] more for the spanish pronunciation (as in the word aire, EYE- reh, meaning air). BUT then I deal with people pronouncing it Al AIR uh.
Well, I automatically said uh-LIH-ree-uh, so I don’t think Alyria is the best spelling at all for your preferred pronunciation, and yes, Alaira, I do want to say uh-LAIR-uh.
I think perhaps Alyra is your best bet if this pronunciation you want, though honestly, I’d still likely be prone to wanting to say uh-LIH-ruh. Also, I’m really not liking the look of it, though in saying that, I’m generally not a fan of Ally-type names. I wouldn’t mind Eleira, though I imagine it might get eh-LAY-ruh…
Might I suggest the similar sounding Alaia, uh-LYE-uh, a Basque name meaning “joyful, happy”, or sweet little Eira, EYE-ruh, meaning “snow” in Welsh? Alternatively, what about shortening it just slightly and going with the lovely musical and astronomical Lyra, LIE-ruh.
I would assume Alyria is meant to be pronounced with four syllables, with the same ending sound as [name_f]Victoria[/name_f] or [name_f]Aria[/name_f].
I agree that Alyra would probably be a better spelling, though you might have still have people pronounce it as a-LEER-a.
I would pronounce Alyria uh-leer-ee-uh. For the pronunciation uh-lie-ruh I would spell it Alyra.
Agree with this 100%.
Perhaps this is not true with other’s pronunciation, but I do understand where you are coming with [name_f]Georgia[/name_f] - with my accent (midwestern) it is also an uh/ah sound at the end. However, I would say that is the exception not the rule. Most other words I can think of off the top of my head with a -ia ending do have more of an ee-uh sound (Algeria, [name_f]Aria[/name_f], pneumonia…).
Alyra I do think gets closer to your desired pronunciation. I think your biggest issue is getting an aye sound instead of an ear sound in the middle - Alyra may be pronounced ah-lyr-ah a lot. Maybe Aliera?