eye-anth-ah with a long I as in [name_f]Ivy[/name_f]
or
ee-anth-ah with I saying eee as in [name_m]Ian[/name_m]
[name_f]Iolantha[/name_f]:
Eye-oh-lanth-a
Ee-oh-lanth-a
[name_f]Yo[/name_f]-lanth-a
I have similar confusion about [name_f]Ianthe[/name_f] and [name_f]Iolanthe[/name_f], but can’t really use a name that ends in an -ee sound because our surname does. If I was confident an -ee ending would work I would lock in [name_f]Ivy[/name_f].
I want an eye sound but I don’t want to make it up or wreck the name. Runner up would be ee sound. I think yo-sound is pretty but not great for what I was trying to justify an I name for.
If the surname would cooperate, I really adore [name_f]Ione[/name_f], but it doesn’t work.
[name_f]Ottilie[/name_f], please tell me you’re sitting on a secret treasure trove of obscure I-names filled with myth and magic? Yes?
Ianassa (eye-uhn-AS-uh) one of the Nereids, “violet queen”.
[name_f]Idonea[/name_f] (ee-[name_m]DON[/name_m]-ee-ah) Norse [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] of spring, youth and apples, “to love”.
Igraine (uh-GRAYN) [name_m]King[/name_m] [name_m]Arthur[/name_m]'s mother, “queen”.
Ilmarë (EEL-mah-ruh) “starlight”, from Tolkien’s works, she was one of the [name_f]Maia[/name_f], the handmaiden to [name_f]Varda[/name_f] (the queen of the heaven)
[name_f]Inanna[/name_f] (in-AN-na) Sumerian [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] of love, beauty and war, “lady of the sky”.
[name_f]Ingela[/name_f] (ING-uh-la)
Ino (EE-noe) - Greek sea [name_f]Goddess[/name_f]
Irmelin (EERM-uh-leen)
Ishara (i-shah-ra) Hittite [name_f]Goddess[/name_f]
Ishtar (ISH-tahr) Mesopotamian [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] of beauty, love and war.
Isilde (IZ-il-duh) variant of [name_f]Isolde[/name_f], “ice” + “rule” or “under the hillside”.
[name_f]Ismay[/name_f] (IZ-may)
Ismenia (iz-MEEN-ee-uh) variant of [name_f]Ismene[/name_f], daughter of [name_m]Oedipus[/name_m], “knowledge”.
[name_f]Isolde[/name_f] (ee-ZOL-duh) [name_u]Tristan[/name_u]'s lover, “under the hillside”.
[name_m]Isra[/name_m] (is-[name_m]RA[/name_m]) “night journey”.
Issoria (is-SAW-ree-uh) Epithet of [name_u]Artemis[/name_u].
[name_f]Itzel[/name_f] (i-[name_u]SHEL[/name_u]) Mayan [name_f]Goddess[/name_f] of the moon, earth and childbirth, “rainbow lady”.
Ivalo (EE-vah-loh)
Iving (EEV-ing) Norse, the river that separate Asgard and Jotunheimen.
I quite like [name_f]Iona[/name_f] but try it with our surname that has a strong accent on and it’s so sad. [name_f]Iona[/name_f] muh-R0-nee. Ugh. Tragic.
It is a beautiful name with another lastname though.
[name_f]Ottilie[/name_f], I [name_f]LOVE[/name_f] some of those. I had been saying [name_f]Isolde[/name_f] ee-ZOLD though. I swear I’d heard that was the Gaelic form? Maybe I was wrong. I do love Arthurian legend, but [name_m]Wagner[/name_m] is so icky I was loathe to give him his version.
Isilde is a fascinating variant. It reminds me of one I recently found, Isidra, which is a variant/contraction of [name_f]Isidora[/name_f] without that problematic [name_u]Explorer[/name_u] cartoon character bouncing around everywhere. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you think Isilde or Isidra could be usable [name_m]IRL[/name_m]?
Issoria is great. [name_f]Love[/name_f] it. Kind of love Illyria too.
I tried to wedge [name_f]Isis[/name_f] onto the list and my husband wouldn’t declare it functional. This from the man who finds [name_f]Andromeda[/name_f] very usable. I shall try floating Ishara to him.
Thanks! Sorry for being such a weirdling.
[name_m]Will[/name_m] have to let the rest float around and think about them and how they’d work/pair.
I think Isilde’s perfectly usable! And so shiny and pretty… It’s got things in common with other names, [name_f]Isolde[/name_f], [name_f]Isobel[/name_f], all kinds of -ilda names. Isidra as well, it’s got the popular Is- and idra sounds like [name_f]Ida[/name_f] and [name_f]India[/name_f] and names like that ;).
If you don’t like [name_f]Isolde[/name_f], maybe [name_f]Isolda[/name_f], Izolda, [name_f]Iseult[/name_f] or Ishild?