I recently learned of my great-great-aunt [name]Leela[/name], the woman who helped raise my grandfather and his three siblings after my great-grandmother passed away when he was only four.
I would really like to consider the name, either as a first or middle name for a future DD, however I’m confused by the spelling. I don’t want her to have to explain that, no, her name is not [name]Layla[/name] (lay-lah) but [name]Leela[/name] ([name]Lee[/name]-lah).
Which spelling is the “correct” spelling and which would you be inclined to pronounce lee-lah?
I would pronounce [name]Leela[/name] “lee-lah”. [name]Lela[/name] (and [name]Lila[/name]) could be pronounce “Lie-lah” [name]Leyla[/name], [name]Leila[/name], or [name]Layla[/name] look more like “lay-lah” to me.
Also, I love the story behind the name. Such a gorgeous namesake!
[name]Leela[/name] is spelled phonetically so I don’t think you’ll have any problem if you use this spelling. (My sister’s name is [name]Leila[/name] pronounced “lay-la” but some people pronounce this spelling “lie-la”.)
I’d pronounce [name]Lela[/name] and [name]Leela[/name] ‘lee-la’ and [name]Leila[/name] and [name]Leyla[/name] as ‘lay-la’. [name]Leela[/name] is spelled exactly how it’s pronounced, so I don’t see where you’d actually have a pronunciation problem.