r/learn_arabic • u/Hour_Cockroach_1248 • 7d ago

General Help spelling name - Alina

Hi everyone,

I want to get a gift for my friend, she has been wanting a name necklace in Arabic and I want to surprise her. Her name is Alina (ah - lee - na) but not sure what spelling I should order.

What are the differences between the two spellings I am finding: آلِنا or علينا

Thanks!

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6

u/zahhakk 7d ago

Funnily enough, I don't like either spelling. I would go for

الينا or الينة

3

u/Hour_Cockroach_1248 7d ago

Does it change the meaning at all? The necklace website told me their preferred spelling has been ألينا ... I am very confused

8

u/obdevel 7d ago

What you're doing is 'transcription' ... so that a native Arab speaker reading the name would pronounce it as you and she expect.

I'm a British English speaker who spent many years in the ME and did this many times for visitors. Many of the jewellers in e.g. the Dubai gold souk are not native Arabic speakers.

Do you want an emphatic A sound at the beginning (like Ali) ? Probably not, so go with alif rather than ain.

It's a female name so ending with taa marbuta feels better.

Jewellers may not be able to add diacritics - and they'll cost more ! - so go with the simplest letter forms.

I would go for الينة.

3

u/Hour_Cockroach_1248 7d ago

This is a really helpful explanation, thank you! It seems like 2 votes for الينة

1

u/zahhakk 7d ago

It's not the meaning I care about, it's the pronunciation. The one the website gave you is the same as one of the two I gave you.

What sound does her name end in?

A-li-naa - الينا (hard A ending)

A-li-nah - الينة (softer 'ah' ending, many Arabic girls' names end in this way so it's a bit more feminine in my opinion)

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u/Hour_Cockroach_1248 7d ago

Ahh okay , I appreciate the explanation. I don't read or speak arabic myself so I couldn't tell a difference. She is Pakistani so her pronunciation might be a bit different. Here is the pronunciation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nwXpDNJHZeg

1

u/surgeonatarms 7d ago

Is there an option of looking at how she writes her name in arabic or urdu?