How would you pronounce Eily?

[c.m.c]

As a child, my favourite book was called Under the Hawthorn tree. I even wrote to the author and she posted me a lovely hand written reply, which I have to this day.

Anyway, the lead character was a little girl called EILY. Our teacher at school always pronounced it E-lee and that's how I like it, but DH and I were thinking it's probably pronounced more like the beginning of Eileen or Eilish (pronounced as Ailish)

Would you pronounce it
E Lee
Eye lee or
Ail lee ???

 

[button05]

I would pronounce it ee-lee. It's a lovely name!

 

[c.m.c]

I would pronounce it ee-lee. It's a lovely name!

Thank you. I've also known it as E lee myself and I love it. It's defo my top name of it's a third girl!

I didn't choose it for my other DDs as it gets confused with Ellie which is very popular

 

[second.time]

I'd pronounce it Eye-lee ... I'm American, not sure if that makes a difference!

It's a beautiful name, either pronunciation.

 

[c.m.c]

I'd pronounce it Eye-lee ... I'm American, not sure if that makes a difference!

It's a beautiful name, either pronunciation.

I love it and it's not popular where I am at all, which makes me love it more.

I only associate it with E lee as our teacher in Ireland pronounced it that way. I do think Eye lee looks like the correct way to pronounce it as Eileen is pronounced Eye lean, which makes it seem more sensible.

 

[mazndave]

It's a lovely name, but I think I would pronounce it Eyelee

 

[babynewbie]

I would pronounce that as Eye-Lee as it looks similar to Eileen to me

 

[LoraLoo]

Id say eye-Lee too (uk)

I like it said that way, and your pronunciation too- not sure how you'd spell it to get people to pronounce it that way though? X

 

[ikaria]

I would pronounce it Eye-lee too.

But I agree that the name is lovely no matter how you pronounce it.

 

[LoraLoo]

How about Eleigh as an alternative spelling? The only other ways I could think of are below but none of those look right to me

Eelie
Eely
Ealie
Ealy
Eeley

 

[c.m.c]

Thanks. I'd rather stick to Eily and change the pronunciation, as I loved the book I really love the spelling too

I've heard names like Andrea pronounced slightly differently an dray a and an dreeee a

Maybe I could just pronounced it E lee and everyone would just get used to it... ??

E fee and eff e is another one... Effie ? Same nake 2 ways of saying it

 

[LoraLoo]

I definitely think you could still pronounce it as E-Lee and people would get used to it. I agree- your way is the prettiest spelling and Id want to stick with that too.

 

[Mrs Dragonfly]

I love the name and how you chose it. Although to be honest when I first read it I read "eye-lee", I showed DH and he said "ee - lee". If you pronounce it how you wish others will too.

 

[c.m.c]

A couple of years ago I went to one of the open air museums in Northern Ireland. They were having a "Hawthorn day" which was dedicated to the book. I asked the lady how you pronounce Eily and she said EE lee... not sure if that's a Northern kind of way of saying it. My DH thinks Eye lee sounds far better. It's just I don't associate it as Eye lee.

Thanks so much for the replies. It's nice to see opinions, and I agree Eye lee is probably the proper way to say it, but also nice to know that I won't look crazy pronouncing it E lee!

 

[Bevziibubble]

I would pronounce it E-Lee

 

[DanteRoman]

I'd stick to the spelling and the pronunciation.

I'd just get used to correcting people, I've had it for nearly 8 years now with Dante, it's really annoying to start with but you just get used to it. I'm still glad we picked the name we wanted even after correcting people 4000 times! Xxx

 

[kirstybumx3]

I'd say eye lee but you won't be far off pronouncing it your way and I'm sure many others will pronounce it that way too.
People get even the simplest names wrong so I wouldn't worry. People will get used to it.

 

[Zephram]

That's definitely eye-lee if you ask me. It would never occur to me to pronounce it ee-lee. You will have to repeat the way you want it to be spelled and pronounced until you're blue in the face to almost everyone you meet and your daughter will forever be correcting people her whole life. If you're okay with that, go for it!

 

[c.m.c]

My teacher in Ireland pronounced it Ee lee. It's just DH said it looks more like Eye lee. I guess Most Irish people end up having to pronounce their names to half the world lol!

 

[hopefulinwv]

Eye-lee