[name_f]Lelia[/name_f] and [name_f]Lilja[/name_f]–both pronounced LEEL-ya
[name_f]Lelia[/name_f] is of Greek or [name_m]Roman[/name_m] origin and means “sweet speaking”
[name_f]Lilja[/name_f] is of Nordic origin and means [name_f]Lily[/name_f]
Which spelling do you prefer? I think [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] is prettier but it might easily be confused with [name_f]Layla[/name_f] ([name_f]Leila[/name_f]). [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] is quirkier and has more spunk, but people may have no idea how to pronounce it because of the J.
Which spelling do you prefer and which would look better with a last name of Scandinavian origin? Thanks!
I’d go for [name_f]Lilja[/name_f]. I really love that one a lot and am sort of bummed that it is Lilje and not [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] that is on the rise here in Denmark, because I’d love to see more Liljas.
As for [name_f]Lelia[/name_f], I have never never heard it before and I wouldn’t immediately pronounce it LEEL-ya (perhaps rather LEH-lee-ah), but that’s probably just me. [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] also wins in terms of aesthetics for me.
I like [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] better. I thought [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] was [name_f]Leila[/name_f] when I first saw this thread and I’m sure that could be quite common!
I love the look and feel of [name_f]Lilja[/name_f], so it’s the winner for me - also I agree with the other poster that [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] would probably be confused as [name_f]Leila[/name_f] most of the time…I actually totally saw it as [name_f]Leila[/name_f] at first myself. I do like the Icelandic pronunciation of [name_f]LIL[/name_f]-yah, though…
I like [name_f]Lelia[/name_f]'s name meaning better but I think [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] despite the J would more often get the pronuncation Leel-ya. It would be my favorite of the two.
I read this as [name_f]Leila[/name_f] at first. So I think [name_f]Lilja[/name_f], just because of that. You might have pronunciation issues whichever you decide, though.
I much prefer [name_f]Lilja[/name_f], as a more commonly known scandinavian name. I think [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] will be more likely to lead to a Lel-ya or Lel-eea pronunciation. I also predict [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] is about to get more popular, though it will never top the charts in the US (which is a good thing, I think).
[name_f]Lilja[/name_f] is my favourite and a wonderful choice, I think. I do agree though that there might be pronunciation issues - I know a couple that named their daughter [name_f]Lilja[/name_f], but spelled it [name_f]Lilia[/name_f] to avoid this.
[name_f]Lelia[/name_f] would not be pronounced leel-ya by me. I’d try leh-lya or leh-lia. I think most Americans would pronounce it like [name_f]Leila[/name_f].
I am originally from a European country where Lilja is used and I would say Leel-ya.
[name_f]Lilja[/name_f] would be [name_f]Lil[/name_f]-ya to me in English, in [name_m]German[/name_m] I might also pronounce it Leel-ya. I would never say [name_f]Lil[/name_f]-ee-a as the j is not a vowel and never has it’s own syllable (both english j and soft j).
[name_f]Lilia[/name_f] is [name_f]Lil[/name_f]-ee-a and never [name_f]Lil[/name_f]-ya (at least) to me.
Both are really pretty. I prefer the look of [name_f]Lelia[/name_f], but I almost think [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] will run into more pronunciations problems (confused with [name_f]Leila[/name_f] or prn leh-lee-ah). [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] at least ppl with either say lil-ya or lil-ja (I think?) or ask. Tough call. With [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] at least you could say “rhymes with [name_f]Celia[/name_f] or [name_f]Delia[/name_f] or [name_f]Amelia[/name_f]” for a quick fix.
I grew up with a [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] and I always thought it was such a beautiful name. She never had any pronunciation issues as far as I know but maybe [name_f]Leila[/name_f] wasn’t as big so the confusion wasn’t there. I agree with @opheliaflora’s description of the pronunciations.
For me [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] and [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] are also different becase [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] is Lill-yah to me and [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] is [name_m]Lay[/name_m]-leah. I don’t see why the ‘j’ isn’t a bigger issue for a native English speaker than the fact that [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] looks a bit like [name_f]Leila[/name_f] (and how common is THAT name in the USA or [name_f]England[/name_f] or … I don’t know where?), that’s what I would say if I were a native English speaker but apparently it’s the other way around for people here, so I’m surprised. But, I’m not a native English speaker so… But as you can see from my sig [name_f]Lelia[/name_f] is my top pick because I find the pronunciation in my own language as well as in English more than palatable while people will make [name_f]Lilja[/name_f] sound like Lill-yah where I live and I just think that sounds weird.
It took me awhile to figure out how to pronounce [name_f]Lilia[/name_f].