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Accepted? Sure. [name]Will[/name] it make a difference? Probably not. (Assuming, that your talking about English speakers here) Accent marks aren’t native to English, so most people you run into aren’t going to know what they mean and will just ignore them. However if you want to use them, they certainly aren’t uncommon (i.e. [name]Ren[/name]ée and [name]Zo[/name]ë) but it probably won’t do much for your pronunciation issues either (after all no one pronounces [name]Renee[/name] differently without the accent)
From what I understand, you can’t put accent marks on official paperwork anyway. I feel your pain as EVERYONE pronounces my future last name wrong. It has an accent, but it is ignored. I think this may be a case of correcting people with the pronunciation you want.
I really love [name]Milena[/name] btw.
Thanks, I love it too :-). Magpie, I thought about your comment regarding “[name]Renee[/name]” as I was typing this out! I remember my bf in grade school was named [name]Renee[/name] with an accent over one of the Es, and since then I’ve always wondered what the point of that was since no one pronounces that name “[name]Ren[/name]-eeeee” …
I just wasn’t sure if adding an accent where one normally/traditionally doesn’t exist would create certain assumptions in the minds of those seeing the name. I don’t want people relating it to something like spelling [name]Amy[/name] as “[name]Aime[/name]'e” (which BTW, is the name spelling of an actual person I went to school with). It’s not that I’m trying to make her different or yooneke; I just want to make it easier for those trying to pronounce it.
Your feedback helps, thanks!
[name]Just[/name] wanted to say that I would have pronounced the name mi-LEH-nuh anyway, without the accent, but not sure if that is helpful or not…sorry! I personally agree with previous posters in that, in [name]England[/name] anyway, accent marks would not necessarily help with the pronounciation. (But on a slightly more cheerful note, I [name]LOVE[/name] [name]Milena[/name]! [name]Do[/name] you have a middle name yet? Sorry if I sound stalkerish - it’s just that it was on my list for a while and I couldn’t find THE perfect middle name…) Good luck!
First off, I love [name]Milena[/name] and it is a name that travels between cultures remarkably well (apart from the occasional mispronunciation).
Accent marks can be a huge pain if you live in a country where they’re not normally used.
I’d also be a little confused seeing an accent mark in a name that doesn’t have one, it seems to complicate a name that is so beautifully simple/universal.
I went to primary school with a girl called [name]Milena[/name], and I’m pretty sure I never heard it pronounced Mi-lee-na, even by substitute teachers. [name]Lovely[/name] name!
I dunno. Most of us do French/Spanish in High School. I know from learning those that accents change sounds of letters 
I think [name]Milena[/name] will be ok without the accent. I’d instinctively say ‘mil-AY-na’ anyway.
While well-meaning, I don’t think the accent is going to stop you from having to tell some people from how to pronounce your daughter’s name. If fact, I foresee it causing more confusion than assistance. Some people will mispronounce or be unfamiliar with even very simple names or names that should be intuitive. My own name is uncommon, but pretty straightforward (or at least my parents thought so) and even with me telling them, it’s just like putting together [name]Martin[/name] and [name]Christine[/name], it still went over some people’s heads.
With that, [name]Milena[/name] has a wonderful background as far as names are concerned. I think it will slowly become more familiar in the next few years, but not trendy or popular, so it may not be as problematic as you think (of course it all depends on your location). Also, a nickname like [name]Mila[/name] or [name]Lena[/name] ([name]Layna[/name]) could be of some aid too.
Best of luck!
We’re liking [name]Ray[/name] as a middle name, as it is my husband’s beloved grandfather’s name…even though it sounds like a filler name, I really like how [name]Milena[/name] [name]Ray[/name] flows Other options on the table are [name]Cyan[/name], [name]Sage[/name], and [name]Elise[/name]. We may end up with two MNs!
Thank you everyone else for your wonderful feedback, I’m feeling much more confident now!
[name]Love[/name] [name]Milena[/name] - beautiful, I say definitely go for the accent mark, my name is [name]Jo[/name]ëlle ([name]Jo[/name]-elle) - I never used to write it with the ¨ and always used to get called ‘[name]Joel[/name]’ or ‘[name]Jolie[/name]’.
Since I started writing it with the ¨ like it would be written in [name]France[/name] I’ve had a lot more people reading it correctly - not sure if that’s a coincidence or it really helps!
Thanks for posting this! I’m going in for a c section tomorrow and, if baby is a girl, we are going with [name]Esme[/name]. I too am debating the accent mark as they’re not commonly used where we live. Great question and I love the name [name]Milena[/name]!!!
In the US, Dindlee is right-- the SSA does not permit the use of diacritical marks in one’s official government name.
@yogamama, good luck. Esmee is the feminine form of [name]Esme[/name], if that helps.
I think accents are fantastic and necessary if you live in a place where people understand what they mean and that they have an actual function. If you live somewhere where people don’t know the difference between é and è or think that an e with an apostrophe after it is the same as an é, then I think it’s pointless.
[name]Milena[/name] is lovely, by the way! I had a neighbour named [name]Milena[/name] while I was growing up… I’m not sure if she got her name mispronounced often, but we hung out all the time and I never heard her complain about it.