Hi everyone. I’m due in June and I would like to name my baby girl Liana but it seems like this name is way more complicated than I think it would be. So long short story, I’d like to pronounce it as Lee-ah-na but most people pronounce it as Lee-anna (Lianna) and when I tell them that’s not how I want it to be pronounced then they tell me it sounds exactly the same and doesn’t want to say it my way. Should I just being consistent and tell them to pronounce it as Lee-ah-na or change it to Lee-anna so things will be easier even though I don’t want to? 
I’d push for your pronunciation. [name_m]Say[/name_m] it enough times and your daughter (when she can talk!) will probably start correcting people too! Lee-ah-nuh is how I’d say [name_f]Liana[/name_f] anyway
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i’d say it how you want !! while i think it’s likely to work, i don’t think the difference between the pronunciations is big enough that a correction would stick, if that makes sense.
your poll wasn’t working, so i’ve fixed it for you <3
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It seems strange that people are telling you that Lee-anna and Lee-ah-nah sound the same. I pronounce it Li-ah-nah and, as someone who has to make a similar correction a lot, it isn’t a huge deal to correct. People don’t typically need to be told more than once.
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I’m scared if she has to always correct people later she’d hate that name. Like right now almost everyone I asked how do they say it when they see the name, they said it’s Lee-anna
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I don’t really understand what you mean about correction would stick. and thank you for fixing my poll 
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I know a [name_f]Liana[/name_f] pronounced lee-ah-nuh! Any other pronunciation never would have occurred to me. Go for it, and I say stick to your pronunciation! I think it will be intuitive in the wild.
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I don’t know why either. [name_m]Even[/name_m] my husband, he said it just doesn’t sound natural when he says Lee-ah-na. More like he has to remember and forced to say it like that and I’d have to always correct people if I chose this pronounciation. And my friends, when I tell them it doesn’t really sound exactly the same, they just say oh it’s the same and continue to call my baby Lee-anna 
maybe it would help if you related it to names like [name_f]Liliana[/name_f] and [name_f]Juliana[/name_f]? I say [name_f]Liana[/name_f] like lee-ah-nuh, and I know one who says it that way. And I don’t think she’d hate the name if she had to correct it, coming from someone whose had to correct her name for a long time 
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I would push for your pronunciation. I would say it Lee-ah-nuh as well.
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The only way I’ve heard [name_f]Liana[/name_f] said is how you say it. [name_f]Lianna[/name_f] would be spelt like [name_f]Lianna[/name_f]. [name_f]Ana[/name_f] is Ah-nuh, [name_f]Anna[/name_f] is Ann-uh
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I don’t know if it’s a regional thing but I live in [name_m]Quebec[/name_m] and the official language here is [name_u]French[/name_u]. I have told quite a few people and most pronounce it as Lee-Anna, even my husband he said it’s hard for him to pronounce like how I want. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think it’d be easier if I put the H in the middle like [name_f]Liahna[/name_f]? That way people would say it as Lee-ah-na easier?
[name_m]Even[/name_m] my husband says it doesn’t sound that much a difference compared to Lee-Anna and most people will say it like that here in [name_m]Quebec[/name_m]
[name_f]Liana[/name_f] has only ever been lee-ah-nuh to me, including names containing it like [name_f]Juliana[/name_f], [name_f]Liliana[/name_f], [name_f]Eliana[/name_f], etc.
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To be honest, I hate to be the debby downer here but maybe you should just try to come up with a different name. If even your husband is struggling to say the name correctly, I don’t think it’s a good idea to use it. You end up saying your child’s name like a bajillion times a day and if it feels unnatural and forced for him, it’s going to be really hard.
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Have to agree. It would be one thing if people outside your immediately family were struggling, because then I’d say just keep stubbornly saying it how YOU want and they’ll eventually catch on. But if her parents are going to say her name differently, that’s confusing, and will just annoy you for eternity. I think it might be a good idea to pick something else that both you and your husband say the same way.
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Could it be an accent thing? Could it be that the people around you genuinely don’t hear a difference between [name_f]Liana[/name_f] and [name_f]Lianna[/name_f]? I know in some accents there isn’t a distinction between the sounds /a/ and /ah/.
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if that’s the case, i’d pronounce ana and anna the same
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Thank you very much everyone. I guess I would just give up and call her [name_f]Liana[/name_f] (li-anna) instead so it’d be less a headache for everyone. I’m not quite used to it now but I think I’ll get used to it when she’s here if I keep calling her like that everyday from now on 