Ilan/Elan

Ali-B

How would you pronounce Ilan or Elan and what do you think for a boy's name?  My husband and I like very strong ethnic names.  Also considering Ari, Nico and Franco.

mrs_tacos

ell-an or eye-lan, maybe? Either way, I think I like it, if you don't mind people not always knowing how to pronounce iy. I don't mind Ari or Nico, but Franco will always be a mobster to me...mostly because I had an uncle Franco who probably was in the mob:)

newportbride715

I've known a few, all pronounced, e-LAHN. Sort of like Yvonne. I don't like it though. Of the ones you mentioned, I like Nico.

lizzels

I would pronounce it eeee-lon, with the "lon" part rhyming with "Ron" or "Don."

I have known several people with this name. It is a pretty common Jewish/Israeli name.

Ali-B

Lizzels - How did your friends spell it?

mfransdell

EE-lawn.

I knew someone with that name (Elan) and that was how he pronounced it.

lizzels

Ali-B:

Lizzels - How did your friends spell it?

I've seen it both ways. I taught a student who spelled it Ilan and I had 2 friends in college - one who spelled it Ilan and the other who spelled it Elan. Personally I think the Elan spelling looks a little nicer because in some fonts, with the spelling Ilan, you can't tell the difference between the capital I (eye) and the lowercase l (el), so it looks a little funny.

DarcyLongfellow

Like the guy who won Top Chef a couple seasons ago -- eeee (like the letter E)-LAWN, with the accent on the second syllable.

DarcyLongfellow

lizzels:

Ali-B:

Lizzels - How did your friends spell it?

I've seen it both ways. I taught a student who spelled it Ilan and I had 2 friends in college - one who spelled it Ilan and the other who spelled it Elan. Personally I think the Elan spelling looks a little nicer because in some fonts, with the spelling Ilan, you can't tell the difference between the capital I (eye) and the lowercase l (el), so it looks a little funny.

I prefer Ilan to Elan because Elan looks a lot like Elon -- the college in North Carolina.

MrsJJC

Well I thought it said "Ian" like "ee-an", and Elan looks like "Ellen". ?So I guess that is how I'd say it... like "Ellen"...?

I do like Nico a lot. ?I taught a little girl named Ariana that went by Ari so I thikn of her when I see that. ?Franco makes me think of the character on Days of Our LIves in the 90s/early 2000s....

NOt sure what ethnicity you are looking for, but Ante, Rico, and Ivan ("Eevan" although everyone will say eye-van) are all names of students I have taught. ?Most in that community are Croatian or Italian. ??

JoyGotDots

Ilan - Ill ahn

Elan - Eee lahn

mrsc720

Elan kind of looks like Ellen and IIan looks like a typo of Ian. I would probably pronounce it E-Lawn but at first glance it looks like someone getting kr8tiv with Ellen. I like Ari and Nico, Franco is nms.