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I pronounce it eh-LAY-nuh and almost all of the time, people have pronounced it that way (99% of the time). The only time I get EL-en-nuh is when the CVS automated voice is telling me I have an Rx ready to pick up. Between Elena and Helena, I prefer Elena although I do like Helena. What I really dislike is Helen due to the emphasis on the first syllable. That a on the end makes all the difference to me.

I like Elena and have always pronounced it as “eh-LAY-nuh”. Helena is rather dated.

I say e-LEN-a. Ellen-a sound weird to me like someone wanted to say Helena bur forgot the H.

I always thought of ehLAYna and prefer that. I actually asked this question years ago and was told it was most commonly Ellen-ah so I abandoned the name.

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I like both Elena and Helena but prefer Elena.

I'd say Ellen-uh unless instructed to do otherwise.

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I think Helena is far prettier.

I like Elena but I'd pronouce it as eh-LEEN-a unless told otherwise. I love Elaina, pronounced eh-LAY-na, and would use it in real life except that I dislike Eliana and I worry that it would be misread as this a lot. I also dislike the nickname Ellie which some people may use for Elaina.

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I have mucked around with the idea of Alaina as that eliminates my problems with Elaina but it doesn't look as nice and I think it would get lost among all of the other A names around ("What did Jess call her kid, again?" "I don't know; Ariana, Amelia, Alana, something like that."). I like Olena but, again, I would pronounce it as oh-LEEN-a. Olaina is stretching things a bit too far, for me.

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I don't like Helena at all.

It's ok, I tend to pronounce it ell en a

I prefer EL-en-a so it's just Ellen with an a on the end.
I've met some called e-LAY-na, which I don't really like because in my accent it just sounds like Alaina. I do like e-LEH-na, but that's not as common where I am. What people would say automatically definitely depends on where you live.

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I like the look of Elena more than Helena, but both are good.

I've always liked Elena, pronounced eh-LAY-nah; and I vastly prefer it to Helena. I also prefer Ellen to Helen (don't like the Hel- beginning).