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LEH-nuh, in English.

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It's good on a little girl, but I prefer it as a nickname for Alena, Elena, Helena, Magdalena, etc.

LEE-nuh. I like Lina more, but Lena is adorable I think.

In English, LEEna; in Afrikaans, LEEənah. Easy to spell? Perhaps, but not to pronounce. I've never heard it pronounced your way, only LAYna and Leena, in English anyway.

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If not Helena, then why not Helen? Short, feminine, not common, easy to spell and pronounce, not weird! I'd use it in a heartbeat.

I really like Lena as a full name and would love to hear it on a little girl. I would assume it was pronounced LEE-na though; it sounds like the pronunciation you're going for is more like Lenna...? Anyway, once people hear you or her say it, they'll know how to pronounce it =)

I don't know how the "Y" works in your pronunciation, but I would pronounce Lena as LEH-nuh (first syllable rhymes with Ben). It might get LAY-nuh a lot but it's easy to correct.
It might be a little common but not too popular.
I like just Lena better than Helena for a baby.

I think prounciation will be an issue, I don't really like it. Len na. What about Magdalena

Lena was my late mother's name. It was pronounced LEE-nuh, just like the great Lena Horne. However, pronunciation and spelling both were often an issue for her. Lots of people DID mistakenly pronounce it the way you prefer. And sometimes people would misspell it as Lenna. So frustrating for her. But maybe that would work to your favor. My own theory is that whatever name you choose, it will be mispronounced and/or misspelled somewhere along the line. There is no foolproof name.

This message was edited 10/12/2020, 9:49 AM

Cute, esp for a nickname for Helena.