I’m in the process of adopting a baby with the same name as my dog, so I plan on changing her name. One of my options at the moment is [name_f]Lila[/name_f] [name_f]Amelie[/name_f]/ [name_f]Amalie[/name_f]. I’ve never actually heard it spoken, so I’m not sure how it’s normally pronounced. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you pronounce it Lih-la, like [name_f]Lily[/name_f], or Lye-la, like in [name_f]Delilah[/name_f]? Or another way?
I pronounce [name_f]Lila[/name_f], lie-lah. I pronounce [name_f]Lilla[/name_f], lil-ah. I personally prefer [name_f]Lilla[/name_f].
I say “LIE-lah”, like [name_f]Delilah[/name_f] (which I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u], btw). I doubt anyone would say “LIH-lah” if it only has one “l”.
[name_f]Lilla[/name_f] is slightly prettier [name_f]IMO[/name_f], but I imagine you want to avoid the similarity to your dog’s name.
I pronounce it: [name_m]Ly[/name_m]/Lie - Luh
To me it’s just Lilac without the C. (I’m from the US)
I don’t understand how Layla = Ly-luh because to me that is LAY (like lay down) - luh
If you wanted the Lie-luh sound for sure, maybe spell it Lyla. To get the Lih-luh sound for sure, I would do: Lilla
Otherwise just be prepared to correct people or deal with having two different pronunciations.
Also, Lie luh.
I say [name_u]Lee[/name_u]-lah
I would write [name_f]Layla[/name_f] to get Lie-lah
I pronounce [name_f]Lila[/name_f] like Lie-lah, [name_f]Lilla[/name_f] like [name_f]Lil[/name_f]-la, [name_f]Layla[/name_f] like [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-lah (long a sound like in cape), and [name_f]Lela[/name_f] like [name_u]Lee[/name_u]-lah.
I’m from the US if that makes any difference.
I say “lie-lah” for [name_f]Lila[/name_f] and for [name_f]Lyla[/name_f].
I would assume it’s pronounced LIE-luh. However, I do prefer [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-luh.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] is pronounced LIE-luh, like [name_f]Lilac[/name_f] without the C. It’s an established name with an established pronunciation! [name_m]Just[/name_m] like [name_f]Willa[/name_f] can’t be pronounced WIE-luh, [name_f]Lila[/name_f] can’t be pronounced [name_f]LIL[/name_f]-uh!
I say it [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-lah!
I have mind rules concerning these names. Upon correction I would use the preferred pronunciation. As follows:
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] - [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-luh
[name_f]Lilah[/name_f] - [name_m]LY[/name_m]-luh
[name_f]Lilla[/name_f] - LIH-luh
LIE-lah, just like Delilah. I love it. I would pronounce Leila like LEE-la/LAY-la, Lilla like LIH-la and Lyla/Lilah are variants of Lila to get the obvious LIE-lah pronunciation.
I would pronounce [name_f]Lila[/name_f] as “Lie-luh”, [name_f]Lilla[/name_f] as “Lihl- luh,” [name_f]Layla[/name_f] as “[name_m]Lay[/name_m]-luh,” and [name_f]Leela[/name_f] as “[name_u]Lee[/name_u]- luh.” (I’ve known people with each of these names and that’s how they’ve pronounced them. I’m in the Mid-Atlantic US, if that helps!)
Another vote for [name_f]Lilia[/name_f] = “Lie-lah”
I have to disagree with this. There is not one established pronunciation. And why would the english pronunciation be the only one that is correct? It’s not an english name or word.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] or [name_f]Lilac[/name_f] are Latin words (from [name_f]Lilium[/name_f], originally pronounced [name_f]Lily[/name_f]-um). From the word [name_f]Lilium[/name_f] is derived: [name_f]Lys[/name_f] and [name_f]Lilas[/name_f] ([name_m]French[/name_m]), [name_f]Lily[/name_f] and [name_f]Lilac[/name_f] (English), [name_f]Lil[/name_f]âk (arabic) ([name_f]Leyla[/name_f]/[name_f]Leila[/name_f]/[name_f]Layla[/name_f] is an arabic name and it is not related to [name_f]Lilium[/name_f]), [name_f]Lila[/name_f] (Spanish, Dutch and Hebrew), [name_f]Lilla[/name_f] (Italian), [name_f]Lil[/name_f]ás (Portuguese), [name_f]Lilia[/name_f] (Russian). They are all pronounced “[name_u]Lee[/name_u]” at the beginning, except for [name_f]Lilac[/name_f] in English.
[name_f]Lila[/name_f] pronounced [name_u]Lee[/name_u]-Lah is 100% correct. [name_m]Even[/name_m] more correct than Lie-lah actually. Today both pronunciations exist and you can use the one you want.
In the Anglophone world, [name_f]Lila[/name_f] is correctly pronounced LIE-luh. When I lived in [name_f]France[/name_f] my name was pronounced kris-TEEN, but that does not make it the correct pronunciation of my name in English, which is [name_u]KRIS[/name_u]-tin. Since we’re all speaking English, I assumed we were talking about the correct English pronunciation.
Here’s a video that demonstrates the correct pronunciation of [name_f]Lila[/name_f] in English:
I know how Americans would pronounce [name_f]Lila[/name_f]. “Lie-lah” is the pronunciation that is used in [name_u]America[/name_u] and it’s considered as correct, this is true (but it’s the result of a mistake).
You can still live in [name_u]America[/name_u] and choose a [name_m]French[/name_m], Spanish, Italian name or [name_m]French[/name_m], Spanish, Italian pronunciation. [name_f]Lila[/name_f] pronounced “[name_u]Lee[/name_u]-lah” exist and then can be used. It’s not wrong to use it because you are American or live in [name_u]America[/name_u].
In France, Jason can be pronounced in English or in French (Jah-zon like the word gazon with a J). 90% of the French population say it in English. Are they using the wrong pronunciation? No, it’s just a pronunciation among many others.
There is no correct or incorrect pronunciations, for most names.
Okay, but [name_u]LEE[/name_u]-lah would not be the English pronunciation of [name_f]Lila[/name_f]. Anglicization of names is not a “mistake” - [name_m]Jesus[/name_m] is correctly pronounced “hey-SOOS” in Spanish and correctly pronounced “JEEZ-us” in English, and one neither one is a “mistake,” but one is the correct English pronunciation. Etymology of a name does not determine its “correctness” in a different language. [name_f]Lila[/name_f] does have a correct standard English pronunciation and it’s LIE-luh.
That’s why I put “mistake” 
(Nevermind, I forgot the “…” Sorry ^^).
I agree that some names, especially word names, belong to a language. For example, [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] has an established pronunciation. It is from the english language and I don’t know any other form ([name_m]French[/name_m]/Italian/Spanish/Russian, etc) of the name. I would correct a [name_m]French[/name_m] who pronounces [name_u]Hunter[/name_u] as “1-té” (1 like the number in [name_m]French[/name_m]). That would be terrible haha!
Hebrew, latin, greek, german names are generally names where the pronunciation changes according to the country they are used.
The etymology is the root of the name. But we can decide if we want to stick to the etymology ([name_u]Lee[/name_u]-lah) or to our language (Lie-lah) 