My first name is Ara. Katakana would be used. I have always figured that would be アラ. I pronounce my name air-uh. So I guess with all that info should it be written based on the writtin translated or based on how it sounds. Like アイラ?
The more I think about it the more confused I get about it. 
It should be written based on how it sounds. Is it air-uh or eye-ra? I ask because air-uh would probably be エイラ, while eye-ra would probably be アイラ.
Often the katakana name is closer to a sound transcription. So air-u would come out perhaps as エアーウ?
A trick I learned from Leebo is that if you can find a Wikipedia page for, say, a celebrity with the same name as you, you can then switch to the Japanese version of the page to find out how their name has been spelled.
I can’t think of any celebrities called Ara off of the top of my head though 
I really didn’t even think about using a エ for my name. I think even エラ would work. It doesn’t really have much of a イ sound in there.
Thank you for the suggestions. I guess to get a real work out of the answer I’ll have to ask someone in person a little more familiar with the sounds. I feel with the amount of self-study I do and lack of actually talking to people I probably am a little off on speaking Japanese. 
Also, I am named after Ara Parseghian of which I looked up and I don’t think the page has a Japanese translation of it.
No, I couldn’t find any Aras with Japanese pages, sorry 
There are two Wikipedia pages on people named Ara with Japanese versions of the page. They both use アラ, but there’s nothing to say they pronounce it the same as you do.
Whaaaaaa?! I… my google-fu…
Very true. no surprise most people upon first attempt mispronounce my name because it is not English in origin. I may also pronounce it differently then its origin language would. Not 100% sure. Guess I just got to go with my gut and how I want it pronounced in Japanese. 
My name is Cameron and my Japanese instructor gave me a choice on name pronunciation. I ended up going with キャメロン over カメロン
These days when I hear “Ara”, the first thing that comes to mind is Alicia…
I googled “Ara name” which brought me to this:
But, but… that’s the page I looked at… I only looked at the first name people though…?
Looking at this picture and reading that within makes me think of the way people usually pronounce my name upon seeing it.
Honestly its the way that makes the most sense. That how ever is not how I pronounce it. I always find it kind of funny when I meet new people and they try to say my name. I usually have to correct them at least once, people always become super apologetic. As if its something they should have known. Pretty uncommon name, and my pronunciation of it is different.
There’s a Korean person with the name Ara as well, but that is itself a representation of her name in Korean, so I don’t know how that pronunciation would be.
EDIT: oh, this might be one of the two meant above, didn’t notice it because I saw “two” and then the list went past 2 names
Even if they’re Asian? 
Name order…
D’ooooooh
If you pronounce your name as ‘air-uh’, maybe it could be エーラ as well lol
It’s a struggle between spelling as close a possible to origin using their alphabet or choosing based on closest pronunciation possible. I had a struggle with my surname lol
Just don’t pick エラー 