Spelling Help, Please!!

NewOCMommy2016

Leelah, Leela or Lela?

I'm due today and we're still trying to decide how to spell our baby's name!!  I'm pretty sure she'll be late, so thankfully we have some time, but not much

My sisters and I all have names that end in "ah" (Jeanah, Rebekah, Hannah) and we thought it would be nice to carry on the tradition while also incorporating my maiden name "Lee", which is how we came to "Leelah".

What are your honest opinions about the spelling?

I'm concerned about the needless "h" at the end... I know there's a lot of discussion about improper or misspelled names and I don't want it to come across pretentious or uneducated.  I feel better knowing there's good reasoning behind it, but we're not going to explain that to everyone that meets her.

Pros and cons:
- Leelah: Directly reflects the motivation behind the spelling, but the added "h" might come across annoying
- Leela: Can't be mispronounced, loses some of the reasoning behind the name but not completely
- Lela: Simple and straightforward, but I'm afraid people will pronounce it "Lay-la" and our motivation for the name gets lost with this spelling

Thanks in advance for your opinions!

missemmawoodhouse

Leela - looks to be a legit Indian variant of Lila. 

AndTS

I agree with you on the mispronunciation of Lela. So I think the first two are your better options. Of the three Leela would be my choice. 

Smax0822

Leela is how the character from futurama spells it not sure if it's correct or not. 

wlr1030

I would spell it Leela.

tmk0325

I think Leela too. It's the least confusing. 

kimikimi

Leelah - I like your reasoning for this exact spelling. I'd go with that for sure. The other spellings aren't as meaningful. 

carolyn219

What about Leah?

NewOCMommy2016

We considered Leah, but it wasn't our favorite unfortunately. 

nurse714

Leila

GhanimaAtreides

Lilah

saham07

Lilia-Lily-a

linzandjer11

I like the H on the end. I don't think it's pretentious or that you'd have to explain anything. It is meaningful and to me is in the same family as Leah spelling. 

indiana101

I don't see much difference between Leelah and Leela - I don't think one comes across as less educated than the other. I'd probably stick with Leelah since it has the most meaning to you.

CaboBride2015

With or without the H, Leela(h) makes the most sense. I think the name is a little juvenile though and doesn't age well. I would suggest Lee as the middle name and find another name that fits your theme. 

Susannah
Mariah
Maya
Mia
Cora
Angelina
Emma
Clara

There are many.

SmrBrd2012

I know you didn't really ask about this but Leela is so strongly associated with the character on Futurama for me. She's a pretty awesome character but I'd hesitate to use the name because of it.

What about Lena? Still has the same "Lee" sound.

saham07

SmrBrd2012 said:

I know you didn't really ask about this but Leela is so strongly associated with the character on Futurama for me. She's a pretty awesome character but I'd hesitate to use the name because of it.

What about Lena? Still has the same "Lee" sound.

    Lena is perfect! I love Lena.........i forgot all about it. 

Dilynne

nurse714 said:

Leila

We have a street in our town spelled this way, pronounced Lee-lah.

leisalynn84

nurse714 said:

Leila

From a "Leisa" that is pronounced "Lisa" please don't do Leila if you want the Lee sound. I'm constantly called "laysa"