Mila

heyitsme

So DH and I are still stuck on our two girl names-- Mila and Eliana. I hate the nn Ellie for Eliana and love Mila more, but I get hung up on the fact that Mila (MEE-lah) might spend her whole life saying, "It's MEE-lah, not MY-lah!"

When we were talking last night, I said that to DH, and he says to me, "Why would people pronounce Mila as My-lah? It's not like people call Nina 'nigh-nah'." He was so simple, and matter-of-fact. It actually made me laugh because English is his 4th language... he's the king of mispronunciations... and he was just so like, "Duh." 

Although I can see Eliana only having to spend 1/2 her life (or less) asking people not to call her Ellie, and Mila might have a lifetime of correcting ahead of her... 

lovemytwoboys

Hm, well I guess I would be one to pronounce her name wrong, because I pronounced Mila as MY-lah (like Lila) when I saw it.

That said, I don't like the name either way. I LOVE Eliana though!

dana1318a

I pronounce it Mee-luh (but honestly only because of the actress Mila Jovovich...before her I'd never heard that name).  I could see people pronouncing it Mill-uh.  I don't think My-luh would have ever crossed my mind. 

Mrs.Deputy

I would pronounce Mila as Mee-lah (I LOVE the name Mila, btw), but I know 2 Nina's that pronounce their names Nigh-na...so I don't know what to say about that! haha!

mjl6907

I love both names, especially Mila.  However, I think you may have to worry about pronunciation with either name.  Take it from someone with a DD whose last name ends in "ana"--half the time people pronounce it "anna" and the other half "ahna."  You may run into the same problem.  However, if you love the name go for it!  Once corrected it won't be mispronounced.  I still love DD's name even though I have to correct people. 

alohamora

I really like Mila, and I like it a lot better than Eliana, partially because of the Ellie nn you were mentioning.  But I see what you mean, Mila probably would have to correct people on her name pronunciation.  I guess you'll just have to decide whether the beauty of Mila (pronounced correctly) is worth it.  There are a lot of people out there who have to correct others on their names; maybe it's not such a big deal?

Amymarie13

I think Mila (mee-la) is REALLY pretty, although i pronounced it Mill-a, thinking of Millie.  Could you spell it differently?  I really love it.

baloneydisc

I had a dog with this name.  I really like it, but would never use it for a child now because people were constantly mispronouncing it.  We got Mee-lah, My-lah & Mill-uh.  We also go funny looks from people who asked her name.  I got annoyed enough that I would never name another pet or child Mila. 

FWIW there are two actresses I can think of with a similar name:  Milla Jovovich, who pronounces it Mee-lah & Mila Kunis, who pronounces it My-lah (which is the pronounciation we were going for with the dog).

j&j1999

I love the name Mila, don't stress about the pronunciation, I think you will get it w/ both names.  I am a teacher and I mispronounce A LOT of names on the 1st day of school, so what, correct me and move on.  Anyone who matters will pronounce your name right.  Do you really care if you have to tell the telemarketer he said our name wrong?  Just my 2 cents.

anna7602

I love Mila. I don't think the pronunciation will be as big a problem as you fear. Also, there are tons of more common names that have various acceptable pronunciations (like my own). It's really not a big deal to be asked once in a while how you prefer your name be pronounced.

Winter92

I really like Mila! There will probably be some pronunciation issues with it, but I don't think it will be too bad. It's a great name. 

elainelbuck:

FWIW there are two actresses I can think of with a similar name:  Milla Jovovich, who pronounces it Mee-lah & Mila Kunis, who pronounces it My-lah (which is the pronounciation we were going for with the dog).

 Mila Kunis pronounces it Mee-lah.

MaryYVR

I don't think the pronounciation is uncommon for Mila at all.  My cousin's name is pronounced the same but spelled "Mela."

tct1219

i would never pronounce it as anything other than mee-luh but i'm sure there are some people who can butcher any name. on a side note, i actually have a great-aunt nina who pronounces it nigh-nuh and i think that is also ridiculous.

i'd go with mila. i would suggest milla but i'm sure you would get mill-uh a lot more.

clairej

I like Mila and I wouldn't worry about it. It's not a complicated name. She might have to correct people occasionally, but it's simple to spell. I prefer it to Eliana, mainly because I am tiring of names beginning with "el".

Koala77

We have a friend with a DD named Mila.  People pronouncing it incorrectly hasn't been a huge issue for them.  They occasionally get Mylah, but mostly it's Mih-lah and I've never heard them complain or correct anyone.

qtsreign

If this little one is a girl, we're going with Mila (meelah).

It's a beautiful ethnic (but still pronouncable by Americans) name.  Go for it!

fineskyline

Mila! Mila is much prettier than Eliana IMO, and it would never cross my mind to pronounce Mila as anything other than "mee - lah."

starlight8323

Well, when I first saw the name of your post, I thought Myla.

Once I read what you wrote about what your husband said, I thought to myself, "duh... I should've known that too". And I even thought about Mila Jovovich. I never mispronounce her name when I see it (possibly b/c Jovovich looks foreign, so I think of the foreign pronunciation of Mila).

So then I decided to reply to the post, so I read the whole thing again to make sure I didn't miss anything.... and I TOTALLY prounounced it Myla again in my head, until I got to the part where you showed the pronunciation.

I don't know if it's just a misconnection in my brain, or if it's b/c I'm so used to seeing Lila (on my long list) or Miley (as in Cyrus). But I would definitely count on a few mispronunciations in Mila's lifetime.

Sidenote: My name is Pamela. When people call me Pam, I politely reply "Please, call me Pamela if you don't mind," and we move on. So I don't consider the whole Eliana thing a big deal. And for that matter, I don't consider the whole Mila thing a big deal either... I just thought it was interesting that I mispronounced it again eventhough I had JUST read the correct pronunciation!