Yes, I recall that.
I think the fact that it looks like
Kayla is most of what makes
Ayla accessible to Americans.
Anyway,
Ayla of CotCB / Earth's Children is pronounced to rhyme
Kayla.
https://youtu.be/nTR4jQYrmnY?t=48 (
Jean Auel talking about
Ayla, saying it to rhyme
Kayla)
So if people were influenced by that, I think they'd be pronouncing it to rhyme
Kayla.
I think people like the sound of the name pronounced either way, because it's a fashionable sound.
I just personally don't understand why so many Americans seem to think
Ayla pronounced
Isla is intuitive, when only foreign words and names are written Ay- to indicate the initial sound "eye." Unless you count the word "aye." Americans have even respelled
Aiden as
Ayden ... maybe to make sure nobody says
Aiden as eye-den?
I really like a name that sounds like "eye-la" myself, but I'd never use
Ayla as the spelling ... because I'm influenced by things like CotCB and
Ayden and
Kayla, far more than by exposure to foreign languages, and I automatically read
Ayla to rhyme
Kayla. I like Ayla-prn-"eye-la" alright - as a foreign(ish) name. I know a family whose daughter is
Ayla prn eye-la. But I happen to know they have Turkish heritage. If I used that spelling myself, I'd fully expect people to missay it to rhyme
Kayla, because that's what I always do. And I'd half-expect people would think I was trying to make it seem "exotic," because my family has no other language or interesting foreign connections.
It seems to me that
Aila, Eila, and even
Ila, Iyla, and Aela are more intuitively prn "eye-la" in English, than
Ayla is. Apparently I'm in the minority (of people who like the name) who think that, however, because
Ayla is the second most frequent spelling after
Isla. It'd be interesting to find out how many of them rhyme
Kayla and how many sound like
Isla.
- mirfakThis message was edited 9/28/2019, 9:38 PM