I love the name “[name]Isla[/name]” but fear it is getting much too popular. Another variation of “[name]Isla[/name]” I came across is “Aila” (pronounced the same way). It’s a Scottish name meaning “from a strong place.” I like the meaning and uniqueness of “Aila” but fear it may look too “little girl-like” when she’s an adult and that it won’t go as well with our last name that also starts with an “A.” What do others think??
Honestly, I wouldn’t have pronounced them the same way. [name]Isla[/name] I pronouce “eye-lah” and Aila I pronounced (since I’d never seen it before) “eh-lah”. If others look at it the same as I did, you’ll have pronounciation issues with either one. (I prefer the [name]Isla[/name] spelling, though!) BUT, with the rise of actress [name]Isla[/name] [name]Fisher[/name] I don’t believe pronunciation will be a problelm. There was a thread awhile back that talked about this. [name]Feel[/name] free to take a peek 
https://nameberry.com/bb/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1537
Oh, I forgot to comment on the popularity…
To me the name is the same despite its spelling. So, if the popularity rise of [name]Isla[/name] bothers you, I’d stay away from Aila as well because the spelling doesn’t matter in speech. Its “eye-lah” regardless. Its the same as [name]Jayden[/name]/[name]Jaiden[/name]/[name]Jaden[/name]…they’re all the same name to the ears 
I’ll play devil’s advocate!
I never heard of [name]Isla[/name] [name]Fisher[/name]. I’ve been pronouncing it Iss-la or Iz-la in my head every time someone suggests it, and I’m, “like Islam?”
I would definitely pronounce Aila Eye-lah. That’s a nice name and a very pretty way to spell it, being authentic from some other country and not just phonetic for dummies like me who would probably call your daughter Iss-la otherwise. I approve of Aila.
[name]Isla[/name].
Looks better.
Aila looks made up.
I personally love [name]Isla[/name], too, and have always pronounced it eye-luh. People are used to pronouncing Island “eye-land,” but it’s safe to say it may be mispronounced every now and then.
I wouldn’t have pronounced Aila like [name]Isla[/name], but would have said “A (long A)-luh.” I know that Aila is Scottish, but like someone else said, it has that “yooneek” look to it. Additionally, I see the word “ail,” which means to be sick.
If you’re concerned about [name]Isla[/name], what about [name]Lila[/name]?
Good luck!
I think Aila looks like [name]Aileen[/name], a non-made-up name (alternate to [name]Eileen[/name]). [name]Isla[/name] looks like the made-up name! I never saw or heard of it outside this forum. [name]Just[/name] reiterating, I guess. I don’t think either one is going to be blasted common to the point where there will be 2 in a class. I could be wrong. But anyway, all names that end in a stressed syllable LA are going to be lumped in with the Kaylas and Kylas, so in that sense, very common. Not so much, say, names that end in -ella or are just [name]Ella[/name], [name]Stella[/name], or [name]Bella[/name]… or I guess [name]Calla[/name] (another one that is new to me). I’d put those in another category.
You could consider [name]Ayla[/name]. And that is not made up. Its my favorite way of spelling the name. And good choice, I love the name but yes its seems to get more popular.
Good luck
FYI- [name]Isla[/name] [name]Fisher[/name] is the red-headed actress who was most recently in Confessions of a Shopaholic, she was also in Definitely, Maybe, Wedding Crashers, and I Heart Huckabees. She’s married to [name]Sascha[/name] [name]Baron[/name] [name]Cohen[/name] (star of Borat and [name]Bruno[/name])… her star is certainly rising. I’m sure that not too long from now, everyone will know who she is and how to pronounce her name.
[name]Isla[/name] reappeared on the SSA Name List at number 623 in 2008! That is an enormous jump! It hasn’t ranked since 1908. Looks like [name]Isla[/name] [name]Fisher[/name] started a craze!
So, my point is that you should go with [name]Isla[/name]! It’s a really beautiful name, and I believe that by the time she’s in kindergarten, almost everyone will be able to spell and pronounce it. Aila has never ranked, and since it’s the same pronunciation, I think it would just cause confusion (I’m a [name]Lyndsay[/name] in a sea of Lindseys… so annoying!).
Anyway, that’s my schpiel(how do you spell that?)! Good luck with choosing a name!
I know someone who spells her name “[name]Ila[/name]” which I think is nice. Any way you spell it, I think it’s a great choice!
I’m all about the “original” spelling of [name]Isla[/name]…everytime a different spelling gets mentioned my head explodes a little more I just feel that if [name]Isla[/name] is on the rise and people are starting to figure out how to say it, we shouldn’t confuse them more with different spellings, too. Ya know what I mean? Its just so gorgeous in its own right, just how it is…
I love the name! I’d say go with Aila, just because I didn’t know [name]Isla[/name] wasn’t pronounced is-luh until I looked at this forum…
I would have guessed Aila is pronounced “ALE-uh.”
I think that [name]Isla[/name] is getting more attention, so more people will know how to pronounce it. Plus it’s easy to say, “No, it’s EYE-la, as in island” and then everyone understands. But I don’t think it will be the next [name]Isabella[/name].
I prefer [name]Isla[/name].
I would pronounce Aila as AY-la, not EYE-la.
I wouldn’t worry about [name]Isla[/name]'s popularity too much. It’s a gorgeous name; just go for it!
I prefer [name]Isla[/name].
~[name]Jasmine[/name]
Isla is in the top 50 or top 20 or something here (in Australia) but its still relatively obscure in the states. I wouldn’t worry about it becoming massively popular in the US for quite a while if at all. Plenty of names popular in Oz haven’t made the jump, check out Imogen.
Both Isla and Aila are going to get mispronounced sometimes - Isla with a spoken s/z sound, as in izlah, and Aila with are a hard “ale-ah” with a hard a-sound, A-lah. So on the issue of mispronunciation, it’s a tie. It doesn’t sound to me like Aila goes any better with your last name than Isla does.
I’ve seen Ayla, also said like Isla - but not for the Scottish version but the Hebrew version - but I’ve also seen those parents online saying it gets mis-said and “I should have spelt it Iylah!” - so I don’t know. Ayla also unfortunately is the protagonists name in a softcore but fairly graphic romance series of books that sold about a bajillion copies and is about caveman sex. So unfortunately, Ayla has maybe even more baggage than Isla and Aila, though it’s also maybe the most phonetic?
My grandmother’s name is [name]Illa[/name], pronounced the same way. I’ve been told it’s a somewhat common variant in the South…