Feedback requested for Alyna as a sister for Karisa.

[bethelbug]

So, if any of you noticed, about a week ago, I thought my husband and I had narrowed to 4 potential names for our second daughter due in 5 weeks. I took a poll on here. The results were different than what I had suspected with Kaya in the lead trailed far behind by Calise, Kallie, and Karli. Then I started to evaluate each name. I ditched the idea of any of the bottom 3 for various reasons, and spent time considering Kaya. In the end I dropped it too and started my search over because my husband wanted to say KA-ya, but when seeing it I would have said KI-ya. So, too much pronunciation trouble with it. Now I am on to a whole new idea, and I think I am loving this name for us, but would like feedback to see if there would be anything about the name that I might have overlooked. (ex. We don't watch tv at all, so Calise being in a show called Game of Thrones was news to me.) I also am looking for mn suggestions...most likely a single syllable mn.
Here is my new direction and thought: (Any feedback is appreciated...thanks.)

Alyna Grace Cleveland


Reasons I like this name...
Al: My Mom's Dad's name
Lyn: last part of Evelyn (my Dad's Mom's name) and a little different but also for Linda (my mom)
I am from the States, so I would pronounce this with a short "I" sound as in the name Lynn.
All of us have one name derived from Greek. This name also has a Greek meaning. It means light.
Grace is the meaning of my middle name, Karis.
I think the flow of meaning is beautiful too...the light of God's favor or blessing.
I wanted to keep the first name 6 letters or shorter since we have a long last name.
I believe it is different enough from Karisa Rose, but similar enough in style to be a beautiful sister name.
I like that both daughter's names end in "a" and nothing bad rhymes with them.
I also like that both girls would have a 3-syllable first name with a 1 syllable mn.

(If you don't like the mn Grace (maybe because it is super popular), other mn suggestions would be great. Thanks.)

[ellenelle]

I personally prefer the Alina spelling, though I see how the Y is meaningful. I think that it would still honor Linda (and Evelyn, too), but look a little less trendy (if that matters). Otherwise, I think it's lovely, esp. that you have thought though the name so much!

It's true that Grace is the go-to middle name these days. There are several other names that mean "grace," though (not all come up with the same meaning on NB, but I've seen them elsewhere). I know that these break the one-syllable thing, but maybe one of these will float your boat?

Anything with Anne (Anna, Anissa, Annalee, Annika, Anya, Marianne, Rosana or Roseanne)
Hannah
Milena
Keavy
Nina
Quinlan
Susannah or Suzanne (graceful lily)

None of those sound great with Alyna/Alina though (Alyna Suzanne?)... So I thought you might also consider Carys, which is sweet because it matches your middle name's sounds almost exactly but is a different name (Welsh, meaning "love"). Alina Carys is gorgeous!!

All the best.

[bethelbug]

Actually, Alina has been on my list all along, but to me, it is my Russian friend's name ( met her in Israel) and she went by the Russian pronunciation A-leen-a. I wanted to be sure people would say The short I sound especially living near so many Spanish speakers. So to me Alyna is a whole different name than Alina, but I think it is similar to names like Alyssa where it is not completely a foreign name even though it is not popular. Other mns I have thought of are Kay ( husband's grandmother's nickname), Jane (Mom's Mom's mn), Pearl (June's birthstone). I don't think any of those will be names my husband will like. I am also avoiding using Ann, Susan, or Jo names due to losses in the family.

[cristinamariane]

If I saw this name on paper I would first assume it was either a-LINE-uh or a-LEE-na, as I would think it was a trendy spelling of Alina. A-lynn-ah would be my last guess, although if I heard it once it would make sense because of names like Elysia. That said, the a-lynn-a pronunciation seems lacking anything special, as Lynn does. I would suggest adding another n to make it easier to guess. Alynna.

Also, when I saw you mention Calise I thought it would be ka-leese, as in Anneliese. If you were talking about the title Daenarys holds, the spelling is Khaleesi. I think it's cute, and it could work as a mn.

[dancersventure]

I honestly wasn't sure how to pronounce 'Alyna' when I saw this post. At first, I thought it was a 'trendy' (?) spelling of the name Alina (a name I love).
I agree with the pp in adding a second 'n' to Alyna--Alynna. I think Alynna Grace is pretty, but I thought you mentioned she was due in June...and I think Alynna June is very cute! : )

[bethelbug]

Yes, June would be a cute mn if it weren't for the fact that our last name is Cleveland...a little close to June Clever in Leave it to Beaver. Not that many people would think of that, but my dad did.

[cristinamariane]

What about an elaboration of June or something similar? Junia, Juniper, Juna, Juno? I think Alynna Juniper is just perfect.

[bethelbug]

I looked up Alynna with two n's. I don't think it is an actual name with meaning. It is not listed anywhere as a variant of Alina. I think for my area I will stick with one "n." I have never met anyone met Alina here, so I think it should be fine. I think it is also consistent with only having one "s" in Karisa. People will get used to it...and if for some reason they say it as A-lee-na, then at least it is still beautiful and recognizable as her name unlike KA-ya KI-ya.. As for June, I am due the 28th and was 8 days overdue with my first, so June is really no guarantee.

[bethelbug]

Thanks for your imput.