Hi all! I'm trying to make or find a name. I've had it in my head for a while, but I have no idea how to spell it.
It's very simple. It's simply the long "A" as in "say" or "ate", followed by the "uh" sound. The whole name would be pronounced "AY-uh". Sort of like the word "air" without the "r" at the end, or Eywa from Avatar without the "w" in it.
I've looked over the names here many times and if it exists, I seem to be missing it. I tried coming up with a spelling on my own and fell in love with Eia, since that's how those vowels would be said in most of the languages I know. However, in English it's ambiguous.
The one time I was able to find Eia online, it was pronounced that with an "E" as in "speed" ("EE-uh") instead. I tried variants like Eiah and Eiya, but they were pronounced the same way by the Americans I asked. Even Eiyuh (which was quite a stretch) seems more likely to be pronounced with an "I" sound, as in "eye" ("EYE-uh").
Similar thing with Aea, Aiea, and so on. I asked my friends and they assumed those would be said "EYE-uh" or "EE-uh" instead.
Is there any way I could spell it which would make English speakers more likely to use the long-A ("AY-uh") instead? I'm fine with simply going with Eia and having to correct people during first introductions, but if there's a more intuitive way of spelling it, I'd love to hear.