[name_f]My[/name_f] husband and I have been considering the name [name_f]Raya[/name_f] for a daughter as an honor name for my dad’s middle name [name_u]Ray[/name_u]. After watching the new Disney movie I saw they pronounced it “Rye-uh”, but we’ve always pronounced it “Ray-uh”. So now I’m wondering if her name would always be mispronounced?
How do you pronounce [name_f]Raya[/name_f]?
I say Ray-uh
I prefer how ray-ah sounds but both sound like natural pronunciations to me. I don’t think it would be any more problematic than other -aya names - nearly all of them have double pronunciations but people use them anyway.
[name_f]My[/name_f] first intuition was Ray-uh, but I think it would depend where you live and what language do you speak. In [name_f]English[/name_f], I would say Ray-uh is the most expected pronounciation. In other languages, for example Latin languages like Spanish, Portuguese and [name_u]French[/name_u] most people would pronounce it Rye-uh.
Rye-uh makes more sense to me so that’s how I’d pronounce it,
I speak both Spanish and English, my first intuition is “Rye-ah” but almost immediately my brain flips it to “Ray-ah”, which I love! If it doesn’t bother you too much, maybe you can change the spelling to Reya 
You might get your desired pronounciation more often this way, but either way It’s such a pretty name!
instinctively I say rye-uh but the ray-uh pronounciation isn’t hard to switch to !
I say rye-uh, like the movie
I would probably ask the person named [name_f]Raya[/name_f] to be honest! This is one of these names where I do a bit of a double take because both pronunciations feel natural.
For this spelling, I’d say Rye-uh because of the movie - although I do know a girl named [name_f]Rayah[/name_f], and for that spelling my first thought is Ray-uh (she also pronounces it Ray-uh). I do think either spelling will probably get mispronounced at some point, but most people would probably catch on after one or two corrections.
I’d pronounce it Rye-uh - like i would [name_f]Maya[/name_f] or [name_u]Kaya[/name_u]. But I don’t think the Ray-uh would be an uncommon or difficult pronunciation to use. The [name_f]Maya[/name_f] I knew often got called may-uh
I say ry-uh ever since I watched the Disney movie! I used to say ray-uh!
Ray-uh
I say Ray-uh
I would pronounce it Ray-ah. Like the name Maya/Maia it seems that there are 2 accepted pronunciations.
Another option is [name_f]Rhea[/name_f] which is pronounced Ray-ah. But I’m guessing there would be many who may not know how to pronounce this too.
[name_f]My[/name_f] middle name is actually pronounced the same as [name_f]Raya[/name_f] in the movie (my middle is Rya), I still mispronounce [name_f]Raya[/name_f] as ray-uh sometimes, I think if you want to pronounce it ray-uh it wouldn’t be a problem!
I initially said Ray-uh, however with the new Disney movie I think people would be more and more likely to say Rye-uh.
I think Reya would be more likely to be pronounced Ray-uh, but i do like [name_f]Raya[/name_f] as an honor name to [name_u]Ray[/name_u].
I say ry-uh. Haven’t seen the movie
I initially think Ray-a
BUT I questioned that when the movie came out because we know a child who’s name is pronounced Ray-a but spelled differently… And then after watching the movie and they pronounced it [name_u]Rye[/name_u]- a I had to conclude that it fit with names like [name_f]Naya[/name_f], [name_f]Maya[/name_f] & Kaya… So I would say both due to that and simply the association with the now very popular move of the same name… That’s not going anywhere (I believe she’s the new Disney princess perhaps?) …
I would spell it differently for your pronunciation or pronounce it Rye-a for best results … This name may also become a bit popular for a while, it’s a fresh name that now has a good foothold with young families and all the charm of popular names such as [name_u]Riley[/name_u] & [name_f]Maya[/name_f].
I’ve met a [name_f]Raya[/name_f] who pronounces it like Ray-uh so I think it can go either way. Ray-uh is my instinct pronunciation.