[name_m]Hi[/name_m] ladies, brand new to the boards! Been lurking for a while. So, without giving any polling options or sharing my desired pronunciation, I would love to know how YOU would pronounce the name Lahna. Thank you!!
I would pronounce it Lawn-uh, like when the dentist tells you to open and say ahh. I pronounce [name_f]Lana[/name_f] the same way.
Iâd say it âLAH-naâ, like [name_f]Lana[/name_f] or the end of âspaâ. To explain the difference, over here:
[name_m]AH[/name_m] - car (sort of), spa etc
AW - for, oar, caw etc
LAH-nuh, LAH as in the solfege syllable ([name_f]Do[/name_f]-Re-Mi-[name_f]Fa[/name_f]-[name_m]Sol[/name_m]-La-[name_m]Ti[/name_m]-[name_f]Do[/name_f])
Like [name_m]Law[/name_m]-nuh.
Iâd pronounce it lah-nah. Iâd also spell it [name_f]Lana[/name_f] (itâs on my list! :P)
LAW-nuh, the same as Lana.
LAH-nah, the same as [name_f]Lana[/name_f].
I would say Lah [like car]-na.
I would pronounce it exactly how it is written out. Lah-na.
I say it exactly how itâs written, but to explain thatâŚ
Honestly got a wee bit confused at the [name_m]LAW[/name_m]-nah responses and the apparent similarity between it and LAH-nah - soon realised its the accent. See, the American accent has the word âlawâ sound like LAH, but in my (Australian) accent, law has a long drawl (to sound like lore), whereas LAH tends to sound more like the aâs in star or car. [name_f]Hope[/name_f] that makes senseâŚ
La [name_m]Nuh[/name_m]- La sounds like daugh-ter and [name_m]Nuh[/name_m] as in No-thing.
LAH-na, same as [name_f]Lana[/name_f]. For me itâs also the car/spa sound. To say [name_m]LAW[/name_m]-na (like claw or awful) for me, it would have to be spelled Lawna (or [name_f]Launa[/name_f]?).
Iâm American. In some parts of [name_u]America[/name_u] âdawnâ and âdonâ sound the same, which explains some of the âlawâ responses, but where I live theyâre quite distinct.
Wow, this is great! Thank you all for the excellent feedback! Iâm so happy to hear that everyone reads it just as I intended
[name_f]Lana[/name_f] (traditional spelling, pronounced like [name_f]Lonna[/name_f]) has been mine and my husbandâs favorite girl name for years. Generally I am opposed to âdifferentâ spellings of names (particularly for the simple sake of uniqueness), but we came to realize that the name [name_f]Lana[/name_f] is very frequently mispronounced as [name_f]Layna[/name_f] or Laaaana (rhymes with banana), and Iâve always said I refuse to give my child a name thatâs hard to pronounce. Not to mention the unfortunate backwards spelling that I fear could result in childhood teasing.
So I was almost ready to give up on the name when we decided to look into alternate spellings. [name_f]My[/name_f] husband doesnât like the [name_f]Lonna[/name_f] spelling, which I agree does take away from it a bit (turns it into [name_f]Donna[/name_f] with an L instead of its own beautiful name). We considered spelling it [name_f]Launa[/name_f] but came to the conclusion that it was riddled with pronunciation issues of its own, including being misread as [name_f]Laura[/name_f].
SoâŚnow we are exploring Lahna, which I think actually looks very pretty. I wish we could go with the normal â[name_f]Lana[/name_f]â spelling, but given the issues noted above, I donât think I can do it. And as much as I hate to have a unique name spelling (another âruleâ of mine Iâm considering breakingâŚthat I donât want a name she would have to spell out for people), I would much prefer my daughter to have to spell out a 6 letter name (not too long) versus have to correct everyone over half the time when her name is read aloud at school, a doctorâs office, etc. Besides, with all the unique name spellings these days, even common names have to be spelled out!
So now we are strongly leaning toward Lahna! I know it will sometimes be mispronounced as well but hopefully that would be infrequent enough that it wonât completely drive me up a wall and not happen nearly as often as with [name_f]Lana[/name_f].
Thanks everyone!! I would love to hear continued feedback from others as well!
I wondered if the pronunciation problems were why you were spelling it like that! I, too, am not a big fan of âuniqueâ spellings, but I agree that there are a lot of ways to say [name_f]Lana[/name_f], and Lahna clarifies it. Weâre all saying the same thing, so youâve succeeded (just with different accents, and face it, most names will sound a bit different depending on the accent. I have cousins who say my name, [name_f]Molly[/name_f], like MAW-ley to my ears.)
Of the phonetic spellings, Lahna makes the most sense. [name_f]Lonna[/name_f] looks a bit more legit, but I could see people pronouncing it âLOE-naâ if they donât know what theyâre supposed to do. And [name_f]Launa[/name_f] works for some accents, but itâs totally different from LAH-na for some of us. I never would have though about the [name_f]Laura[/name_f] thing but youâre right - especially in cursive. And the backwards spelling - good catch, because it would have gone straight over my head.
[name_f]My[/name_f] first choice would be [name_f]Lana[/name_f], and explain the pronunciation to people. But it sounds like youâve carefully thought over whether youâd rather explain the spelling or the pronunciation, and for you, explaining the pronunciation would be more annoying. Itâs a lovely and underused name either way.
Lar-na (I like [name_f]Lara[/name_f] with an N in it âLarnaâ)
Thanks Isolieth, your feedback has been invaluable/encouraging! And I canât take credit for the backwards spelling realization. I actually first ran across it here, based on feedback from people with the name: http://babynamesworld.parentsconnect.com/suitability_of_Lana.html
Iâm also crazy enough that Iâve started randomly emailing/messaging people with various spellings of the name (some with mutual friends, and some completely out of the blue) to see what their experiences have been with pronunciation. Youâd be surprised how many people are willing to help!
Emilaj, Larna (with the ârâ sound) is not a pronunciation I would have imagined. I guess first, I just want to clarify that you didnât misread it as having an ârâ in there? The name Iâm considering is Lahna, not Larna. If you didnât misread, do you mind telling me what region youâre from? Does âahâ often have an âarâ sound?
Thanks!
Like Lah-na as in [name_f]Lana[/name_f] [name_u]Del[/name_u] [name_m]Rey[/name_m].
Iâm an Aussie- so maybe thatâs why I see Lah as Lar? I 100% saw it as Lahna. Maybe because I knew a child called Lahnee pronounced Lar-nee?
So you want it said as [name_m]LAY[/name_m]-na? is that right? like [name_f]Layla[/name_f] with an N?
Ahh, I think that explains it! That makes total sense if you are an Aussie. Thanks for clarifying! The pronunciation I want is like [name_f]Lonna[/name_f].