How would these somewhat rare boys' names go over in the UK?

[eversomuch]

We're trying to decide on a boy's name. We want it to be not extremely common, but not OTT or pretentious. We're not originally British, so would appreciate thoughts on the following names, esp with regard to any possible UK cultural perceptions (if any):

Cedric
Chester
Ivan
Kieran (not really rare, I know)
Laszlo
Malcolm
Marshall
Maurice
Munro
Rye
Trevor

You are so right about Trevor, cherie.

Cedric: wet and weedy. Posh. Old.
Chester: I know one teenager named this. He's a great kid but his name is not cool. It also rhymes with molester.
Ivan: I like this.
Kieran (not really rare, I know): I don't like this spelling of Ciaran, which is a lovely Irish name and I don't think it would cause many difficulties to use the original spelling in the UK. Kieran is a bit common.
Laszlo: weird but cool
Malcolm: My mum's cat's name. She chose it because it was funny. This name would be fine of a fifty-five year old man (and I say that as a Scot)
Marshall: American
Maurice: see Malcom
Munro: a hill. I've seena lot of Scots with first names that are surnames, but never come across a Munro.
Rye: bread
Trevor: see Malcolm/Maurice but multiply by a hundred million.

I feel I need to say more about Trevor. Trevor is sixty years old and has a potting shed. He eats his elevenses at eleven o'clock. He watches WW2 documentaries on the Discovery channel, and he and his wife Joyce are active members of their local church's social committee (CofE, of course); however, they are so bossy and domineering that fellow members Eileen and Malcolm feel it's time to have a word with the vicar. When not in church, eating elevenses or watching WW2 documentaries, Trevor is penning polite but somewhat racist letters to his local MP, mainly on the subject of immigration.

Cedric is really awful as far as UK goes-I think of it as a bit of a joke along with Cecil , Claude and Cuthbert.
For me the best two on your list are Chester and Ivan.
Kieran is OK and so is Marshall.
Trevor is a bit dated now.
The others don't ring any alarm bells.

Just to say that just because adults associate names with a particular stereotype doesn't mean to say that children will.

One of my DCs has a Malcolm in his class; the other has a Trevor (yes, really.) Now, to our adult ears both those names sound terribly old-fashioned and are normally only used for men who are 50+. To my mind, Malcolm is a bit of a "wet" name and Trevor is a bit rough. But funnily enough I've never heard any child make a comment about either name. I suppose when you are little you are constantly encountering new names and Malcolm and Trevor sound no stranger to them than Gabriel, Finlay or Noah (of which there are loads.)

From your list my favourites are Cedric and Ivan. I like Laszlo, but your DS would have to constantly spell it for people who haven't travelled to Eastern Europe.

Cedric - don't!
Chester - OK, know someone called this because his parents believed in numerology, sounds a bit American.
Ivan - OK but I would assume E European origin
Kieran - Fine, quite common
Laszlo - personally I like it but very E European to English ears
Malcolm - known a couple of very pleasant ones, but out of fashion
Marshall - OK, sounds American
Maurice - don't!
Munro - quite like this, Scottish surname, never come across it as a name
Rye - like the bread? Perhaps not!
Trevor - was at primary school with a nice Trevor. Bit boring but might be due a comeback.

Cedric sounds like the sort of school swot who 'told' on everyone else. It's not a 'nice boy' name. Sorry.

I agree that children don't hear what we hear in names.. they don't have the same associations
but teachers do.. and some teachers do pigeon-hole kids.. just sayin!

I love your well-crafted portrait of a typical Trevor, freerange.

and YY to Trevors being quite racest despite having a black mate down the pub who is "allright".. and maybe a Thai wife..

I pity any poor Trevors reading this. Come to think of it, the last Trevor I knew was black.

In my humble opinion...

Cedric - I think there's a dragon in a story book and a character in harry potter called this.
Chester - name of a city in the uk
Ivan - like!
Kieran - very very common here!
Laszlo - people might not know how to say this
Malcolm - old fashioned but not yet retro cool
Marshall - surname
Maurice - like!
Munro - surname
Rye - I personally dislike this - just my taste
Trevor - like!