Hello!
My five year old and I were throwing around names ( start them young, I believe ) and we were trying to find names we liked that sounded similar to [name_f]Zara[/name_f], which I liked for #3 , but we didn’t use due to popularity and not being sold on the harshness of the zar- sound.
We came across zaya - but I’m not sure how often this would be mispronounced.
We say it z-eye-ah
Would you say z-aye-ah? ( two syllables both times, but having zeye-ah was confusing me )
My daughter likes zayla- but I think it looks a bit made up, possibly because of how similar it looks to [name_f]Layla[/name_f]? But it would still be said how zaya starts like
z-eye-lah
Advice?
I’d use [name_f]Zoya[/name_f]. It’s a Russian variation of [name_f]Zoe[/name_f], and with this name I really doubt there’d be any problems with pronouncing it.
For the z-eye-a pronunciation I would spell it more like Zaia. Spelled Zaya looks like a definite A sound, not I. A similar name is [name_u]Zion[/name_u], which is a beautiful Biblical name.
Oh I love Zaya, it’s unusual, but no too out there, and sounds cute! I pronounce it Z-eye-ah.
Zaya also means something like “little bunny” in Russian
I would stick with [name_f]Zara[/name_f]
I pronounced it Zie-uh (like eye). I would pronounce Zayla to rhyme with [name_f]Layla[/name_f]/[name_f]Kayla[/name_f] though.
I love short Z names. My favorite is [name_u]Zola[/name_u], it was my grandmothers name. I also love [name_f]Azalea[/name_f] with the nickname [name_m]Zaley[/name_m] (Zayla could work too). [name_f]Zara[/name_f] is also top 5 for our future children (my fiance doesnt like [name_u]Zola[/name_u], plus my cousin has already used it).
I prefer [name_f]Zara[/name_f] or [name_u]Zola[/name_u].
I would say Zaya the same way I would say [name_f]Maya[/name_f] and [name_f]Kaya[/name_f] which is how you’d like it pronounced “z-eye-ah” 
I would say Zayla to rhyme with [name_f]Layla[/name_f] and [name_f]Kayla[/name_f] and I think you’d have to spell it [name_f]Zilah[/name_f] or Zyla to get the “z-eye-lah” pronunciation!
I like both names but prefer Zyla (this spelling!)
I would pronounced Zaya with the long i like [name_f]Maya[/name_f], and I would pronounce Zayla to rhyme with [name_f]Layla[/name_f] and [name_f]Kayla[/name_f]. Like pp said, I would go with the Zyla spelling to get your intended pronunciation for that name.
I would say Zaya to rhyme with [name_f]Maya[/name_f]; I’ll second a pp suggestion to spell it Zaia. It looks softer and makes the desired pronunciation a little clearer.
It reminds me of [name_f]Zendaya[/name_f] which is not a bad thing.
Looking at it I would pronounce it Zay (as in [name_m]Say[/name_m] but with a Z)- ah but I am not the best at guessing pronounciations.
Zaya - i would pronounce it like it looks, Zay-a ([name_u]Day[/name_u]-a)
if you want z-eye-ah dont use the suggested Zaia spelling since it looks like it rhymes with [name_f]Gaia[/name_f] (this is my personal favorite pronunciation - Zeye-ah). for z-eye-ah…Zaiya/Zaiyah maybe?
Zayla - would still not think the ‘eye’ sound with this spelling, its a kay-la, lay-la knock-off
im not quite sure why, maybe because the name it rhymes with is more uncommon but i prefer Zaia ([name_f]Gaia[/name_f]). the others sound smooshed and have that made up/trying to rip off the style of another name but its too popular vibe.
I’ve never heard it before, but just by looking at it, I’d pronounce it as Z-eye-ah. It reminds me of [name_f]Maya[/name_f], which I pronounce similarly.
Zayla, like pp have stated, I would pronounce like [name_f]Kayla[/name_f] or [name_f]Layla[/name_f].