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HelpIsla
I work at an animal shelter and we had a dog named Isla. The girl who named her pronounced it EES-luh. Every time I said it was pronounced EYE-luh, I would get weird looks. Also heard it pronounced is-luh and el-suh by the public. I eventually got some of my co-workers to pronounce it EYE-luh, by saying it's "like island". I guess it had never occurred to me that Isla was such a challenge to pronounce. My question is, is Isla such a difficult name? If you weren't/aren't in the know, how would you pronounce it?
It's funny, because I got so excited when I saw what the dog had been named, then get it all stolen when I realized no one knew how to pronounce it. Anyone else discover a name like that?
Also discovered one of my co-workers--if she ever decided to have children--would name her daughter Aila, pronounced the same as Isla.
It's funny, because I got so excited when I saw what the dog had been named, then get it all stolen when I realized no one knew how to pronounce it. Anyone else discover a name like that?
Also discovered one of my co-workers--if she ever decided to have children--would name her daughter Aila, pronounced the same as Isla.
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I don't think Isla is that difficult to pronounce but then again, it would depend on where the person is from. If they're from an area where Spanish is the predominant language, then it would be pronounced EES-luh. IS-luh is understandable if one has never heard the name before and EL-suh is just ridiculous, lol. Sometimes people gloss over names without really reading them first and that's probably what happened here.
Aila is pretty bad too and I'm afraid no one is going to pronounce this as Isla (more like Ayla). Reminds me of one of my dd's friends whose mn is Alien (pronounced as Eileen, yikes!). At least it's a mn!
Aila is pretty bad too and I'm afraid no one is going to pronounce this as Isla (more like Ayla). Reminds me of one of my dd's friends whose mn is Alien (pronounced as Eileen, yikes!). At least it's a mn!
This message was edited 5/19/2014, 6:31 PM
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I don't think it's that hard to pronounce at all, especially once the "like island" point is brought up. Some people certainly may pause or have to ask how to say it first, but after telling them, I don't really see an issue with it. I don't prefer the other spellings either because 1) island isn't a weird word and hence Isla can't be that difficult, 2) Isla's the original spelling and I tend to like the original or an established variant (of which I don't think there is one because it's NOT A HARD NAME TO FIGURE OUT), and 3) I personally find the alternate spellings trickier to figure out how to say. If you say Isla, like island, I'm set. If I look at Aila or Ayla or Aisla, etc. I think it's A-luh (as in ay not aye) or, for the last, Ayzla.
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I've always thought it was EYE-luh. I think because of the possibilities, that pronunciation is prettiest to me. I have never heard it said, I have only ever read it.
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If I didn't know, I guess I'd say either Iss-la or Ees-la.
But I have known that it's like island for as long as I've known the name, and I don't think I ever had to guess at it.
I would pronounce Aila to rhyme Kayla. But, I'm easily taught. I was taught to pronounce Leah as LAY-uh because I know one, and now I struggle with Leah pronounced LEE-uh.
I always want to say Ceridwen KEHR-id-wen, but then I learned it's keh-RID-wen and I don't like that so much.
And there's Marsaili which looks like Mar-SAY-lee but it's supposed to approximately rhyme with parsley.
And Meredith, which is originally meh-RED-ith and a masculine name which I like as such ... some celeb named their son Meredith and I'm about 90% sure they pronounce it the girlname way, MAIR-uh-dith, which pains me terribly, it sounds so feminine like that to me. I like MAIR-uh-dith on a girl, but not on a guy.
Then there's Thalia, which has too many different pronunciations and that totally ruins it for me. THAIL-ya, THA-lee-a, Tha-LEE-a, TAHL-ya, ta-LEE-a, TAH-lee-a, tha-LYE-a, ta-LYE-a ... sheesh. Go away, name, you are too ambiguous. lol. But if I met one, I'd just learn it her way.
But I have known that it's like island for as long as I've known the name, and I don't think I ever had to guess at it.
I would pronounce Aila to rhyme Kayla. But, I'm easily taught. I was taught to pronounce Leah as LAY-uh because I know one, and now I struggle with Leah pronounced LEE-uh.
I always want to say Ceridwen KEHR-id-wen, but then I learned it's keh-RID-wen and I don't like that so much.
And there's Marsaili which looks like Mar-SAY-lee but it's supposed to approximately rhyme with parsley.
And Meredith, which is originally meh-RED-ith and a masculine name which I like as such ... some celeb named their son Meredith and I'm about 90% sure they pronounce it the girlname way, MAIR-uh-dith, which pains me terribly, it sounds so feminine like that to me. I like MAIR-uh-dith on a girl, but not on a guy.
Then there's Thalia, which has too many different pronunciations and that totally ruins it for me. THAIL-ya, THA-lee-a, Tha-LEE-a, TAHL-ya, ta-LEE-a, TAH-lee-a, tha-LYE-a, ta-LYE-a ... sheesh. Go away, name, you are too ambiguous. lol. But if I met one, I'd just learn it her way.
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This is probably my biggest problem with the name Isla; it will always get mispronounced. It's one of those names that people can't wrap their heads around because it doesn't make sense to them and it's not popular enough for the pronunciation to be common knowledge. Although in this particular situation, if the girl who named her chose to pronounce it EES-luh then technically that's what the dog's name is. It's just spelt the same as EYE-luh.
I don't like the look of Aila. If anything I'd prefer Ayla, but I don't really like the name at all no matter what the spelling is.
I don't like the look of Aila. If anything I'd prefer Ayla, but I don't really like the name at all no matter what the spelling is.
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I never thought it was that tough...but sounds like I've been mistaken!
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Before I learned that it was pronounced like island, I thought it was ees-la or ihs-la. I like Isla and Aila, but they seem like very different names to me even though they'd be pronounced the same... Sort of. I think of Isla as having a ghost S sound in it, although I say it just eye-la out loud.
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Well, it's not immediately phonetically clear. If I didn't know, I'd guess is-la or maybe eyes-la, and if I was used to the Spanish word, then probably ees-la. But it's really popular in the UK atm and there are three living on my street, so I think people here would probably get it right.
I used to know a Turkish Ayla, also pronounced like Isla.
I used to know a Turkish Ayla, also pronounced like Isla.
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Since "isla" is Spanish for "island" the pronunciation "ees-la" is the first thing that springs into my mind.
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When I first saw the written pronunciation of this name a few months ago, I said, "Oh! It's Eye-Luh, not Is-luh". I think this is a harder name to pronounce simply because people take it for face value, instead of realizing it is like aisle or island.
My names that I stole from myself were Bryony (geez, why couldn't this be Bree-onie), Anais (realized that my friend's younger sister's pronunciation of Uh-nay-see is NOT standard), and Declan (It took me months to hear this somewhere---on a TV show no less---pronounced as De-clan, not Dee-clan).
My names that I stole from myself were Bryony (geez, why couldn't this be Bree-onie), Anais (realized that my friend's younger sister's pronunciation of Uh-nay-see is NOT standard), and Declan (It took me months to hear this somewhere---on a TV show no less---pronounced as De-clan, not Dee-clan).
This message was edited 5/18/2014, 11:54 AM
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Well, in Spanish, Isla means island, and is pronounced EES la. So it's sort of a poTAYto/ poTAHto thing. Or having to say il-uh-NOISSE when speaking Spanish and Russian. I'm not sure how I would have said it if I didn't know.
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I go with EYE-luh, just like Isla Fischer pronounces it.
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