Can the Right Spelling Fix this Baby Name?
–Looking for Letter-Perfect
Every imaginable spelling of the name pronounced "ann-a-lee" has been used in recent years: Anali, Analeigh, Annali, Annaley. There have even been dozens of baby girls given the name "Anally." The telenovela El Rostro de Analía, which ran on Telemundo from 2008-2009, helped spark a trend.
You're off to a good start; the "Anne" spelling is a fine way to make sure the name isn't pronounced with a long A. In my opinion, the –lie ending (Annelie) makes for the clearest pronunciation. Anneli could easily be misunderstood as ah-NEHL-ee.
If you want to incorporate the Anna spelling, you could go with Annalee, which reads as a two-name smoosh of familiar names Anna and Lee. Or use a space to your advantage and separate Anna and Lee (or Leigh) into a double name. However, that does change the style of the name from more contemporary (Annelie) to classic with a southern vibe (Anna Leigh). Regardless, the double-N probably does the most to distance the name from teasing—along with all those other little Annalis and Annalises out there!
Comments
Please do not add links to your comments. Thank you.
Annalucia has the same problem of being a beautiful name that isn't used very often because it makes people think of "anal".
Why not AnnaLee? Sort of like MaryAnn? Your new spellings might just cause other frustrations.
... Oh my. I have a sister in law named Analisa, a compound that’s been lovely for her. But I can see you understand one must be careful. I suggest Name Lady’s spelling. Although what I think looks best and has the added bonus of being the most straightforward for someone reading it is Annalee. Double N’s and E’s. :) Best wishes!!
She will get called Anal/Anally all through middle school.
I agree that using the E distances the name from the long A pronunciation. When I pronounce Annalee or Anna Leigh I gave that a slightly different stress on the syllables than I do with Annelie and variants. I say ANN-uh-lee for the Annelie variants and ANN-uh-LEE for Anna Leigh, etc. as that's a double name to me and Annelie is just a 3 syllable name.
Maybe Anneliese? That's a traditional name where it's spelled Anne, but pronounced Anna.
We spell it “Annalie”.
I have always told people it’s pronounced like Natalie, but with Anna at the beginning. People have no problem with the pronunciation after that, and my daughter loves the fact that she’s the only Annalie she’s ever met.
Oh and btw- my daughter is now in high school and never had her name made fun of in middle school.
Annelie looks good! You can also go for Annely, it is a variant form of Anneli
Post new comment