I'm named Leni and I've lived in Germany for 2 years, not a single problem with it. It's easy to understand, no one thinks of Leni Riefenstahl but of Heidi Klum's daughter, and now it's becoming very popular on the top 20 of girl names... So stop being exaggerated on its previous use.
It's always difficult to transcribe the correct pronunciation of a largely foreign name. Techically, Leni falls somewhere between "Lainie" and "Lenny." Most speakers of English would likely say the former as an approximation of the German name. If you've studied French, German, Spanish or almost any of the commonly taught European languages, you likely had a teacher point out to you that "long" American vowels tend to be diphthongs (i.e. they have a bit of an "off-glide"). Long vowels in the main "Continental" languages tend to be tenser or "tighter." Thus technically, Leni Riefenstahl's name is not pronounced quite the same as Lainie Kazan's. On the other hand, that's still a bit closer than the more masculine sounding "Lenny."
I would never consider naming a child this. While I think Leni is a very pretty name, I can't get over the association with Leni Riefenstahl. I once asked on a German baby names website whether anyone else was worried by this particularly dubious namesake, the response was simply that it is still perfectly acceptible practice to name a child 'Adolf'. So why not Leni also?! On baby-vornamen.de Leni Riefenstahl is listed simply as "actress".
― Anonymous User 6/22/2008
-1
I love this name as a nickname for Lennon.
― Anonymous User 7/5/2007
1
In German this can also be a nickname for Magdalena or Magdalene. [noted -ed]
― Anonymous User 1/6/2007
3
Unfortunately, there was a filmmaker named Leni Riefenstahl who made Nazi propaganda films.
Leni Riefenstahl made Nazi propaganda films, but she made a lot of other films, too and did photography and underwater films. She is generally considered one of the first women to be involved in the film industry.