Mirela & Mirella

I have a question to people who are either native English speakers or reside largely in an English speaking country, though Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, even Swedish speakers feel free to weigh in. I want lots of opinions please.

Mirela ~ Romanian version of the French Mireille

Mirella ~ Italian version of the French Mireille

I pronounce both these names almost exactly identical. Mirela is my preferred name as I am Romanian and I like the look of one L only and I say this name like (meer-eh-la) or sometimes even with just 2 syllables like (meer-ella). Typically I use the first pronunciation though. I’d like to know how everyone else intuitively pronounces this name, if they find it difficult, and if they say the Romanian version different from the Italian based off appearance alone.

I’m a native [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker (US). I assume with [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] you’re emphasizing the second syllable, like Meer-AY-la? To me (being unfamiliar with Romanian names) I would probably assume the single L spelling has a more Romance language pronunciation and guess at Meer-AY-uh, silent L, like [name_f]Mireille[/name_f] plus an A ending. I find the Meer-AY-la pronunciation a teeny bit of a mouthful as an [name_f]English[/name_f] speaker, but certainly doable once I was corrected. For the double L I would expect either Meer-ella (which is still three syllables) or Mur-ella (which I feel compelled to apologize for…American accents, man! But I do think you’d come across that pronunciation in the US as well).

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I hope I’m free to answer as you said [name_f]English[/name_f] and [name_m]German[/name_m] speakers can also weigh in, and I’m fluent in both (although my native language and one I use on a daily basis is Croatian). [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] is somewhat common in Croatia, mostly for middle-aged women (you could say it’d be considered a ā€œmom nameā€), and we pronounce it like mee-REHL-uh (although some people also say it like MEE-rehl-uh). We’d say [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] almost the same as mee-REHL-uh but the L would be more elongated, like the Italian L sound. [name_f]Hope[/name_f] this helps in any way!

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I would use [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] if you are Romanian because maybe [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] will be a trouble spelling. As an Italian myself I find [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] sweet, but I prefer [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] In general because [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] just looks like [name_f]Mira[/name_f] + [name_f]Ella[/name_f] for me.
I would pronounce [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] like ā€œMee-reh-laā€ (Ela short, idk how to explain it) and [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] like ā€œMee-RELLAā€ (more accentuated and longer, idk how to explain it)

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I’d pronounce it like meer-el-la at first glance

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I pronounce [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] nearly the same as you seem to, I just wrote mine out a bit different but when said outloud I put pretty much the same stress and sounds on all the same places and whatnot.
I write it most often (meer-eh-la) and you said (mee-reh-la) except yours adds the Latin ā€˜r’ so is probably a more authentic spellout and stays closer to the verbal pronunciation

I’d probably pronounce [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] as - mih-RAY-luh and [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] as - MIH-rell-uh

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To give you some context, I live in the UK, sadly only speak [name_f]English[/name_f] and have some familiarity with [name_u]French[/name_u] PN & very basic vocab and that’s all!
Without trying to find out how they should be PN, I’d say [name_f]Mirela[/name_f] as Mee-ray-ah & [name_f]Mirella[/name_f] the same but with different emphasis: mee-ray-YA.

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