hello! My husband and I are currently debating the spelling of our daughter’s name (due 3/14/10.) Which one do you prefer? Our most important concern is pronunciation- which one looks like it should be pronounced Lor-a-lye? He likes one spelling and I like the other, and all the people we have asked are split down the middle. Thank you!
[name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] 
beautiful name. [name_f]Lorelai[/name_f] makes me want to say [name_f]Lora[/name_f]-[name_m]Lay[/name_m].
I’ve debated this with fellow name nerds before - I think it varies depending on people’s accents and regions. To me, [name_f]Lorelai[/name_f] looks like lor-uh-lye and [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] looks like lor-uh-lay. If it helps, I grew up in Atlantic [name_f]Canada[/name_f].
I prefer the spelling [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f]. It just looks better, imo.
I also prefer [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f]
I like [name_f]Lorelai[/name_f]. It’s softer.
I prefer the look of [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f], but would pronounce both exactly the same.
[name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] would be the spelling I’d choose.
Greatly prefer the original [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] spelling.
I think the [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f] spelling is more common and the easiest to guess at pronunciation.
I much prefer the spelling [name_f]Lorelai[/name_f]! To me, it looks like the phonetically correct spelling for the pronunciation of the name. It is one of the very few cases where I would not choose the traditional spelling.
I prefer [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f].
I prefer [name_f]Lorelei[/name_f]
Agree with Canadian poster, quoted above. -ai os waaay less ambiguous as -ei. Ai is the English dipthong for aye (ah-eeee goes to eye). Ei is more variable because of the french and germanic in our English language… For your metrics, I grew up in NY (lived there for nearly 20yrs) , have lived in Europe, and have lived in DC for about a decade. Also speak/ha e studied a handful of languages.
[name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps!