Could you help a foreigner out? Afraid to choose a name that sounds odd to British ears.

[ladysnorkmaiden]

We are just now starting to make lists, but there are already a few on each (we don't know if it is a boy or girl) that I've never seen on this site. I would really appreciate some feedback, if you have a moment. Because I am not terribly familiar with British pop culture yet, I want to be sure that I don't saddle my kid with a name that either makes people laugh or has a horrible connotation. Also, just general feedback on some of these would be really, really appreciated. There are others on the lists, but they seem to be well-discussed on mumsnet ;)

Thanks in advance!

Girls:
Aleta
Aria
Sajel
Annika
Ileana
Annaleah/Annalia
Sasha

Boys:
Ansel
Audrik
Aidrik

The girls are fine. The boys are not.

I think the boys' names are fine too.

What's wrong with them?

None have any negative connotations I can think of! I think Brits can struggle with pronouncing j in the middle of a foreign word, so I would probably avoid Sajel for that reason. Apart from that, they are all lovely imho. Really like Audrik.

I don't think any of these mean anything "bad", but some of them are familiar as "this is a name" and some are unfamiliar.

Girls:
Aleta - I wouldn't know how to say this
Aria - I like this
Sajel - haven't heard of this as a name
Annika - I have heard of this as a name but spelled Anneka
Ileana - I wouldn't be usre how to say this but I think it would probably be quite pretty once I did know
Annaleah/Annalia - I would be unsure how to say this
Sasha - I like this

Boys: - I'm not familiar with any of these - like Aidrik best
Ansel
Audrik
Aidrik

I tend to think of Sasha as a boys name rather than a girls name but other than that they just sound like foreign names to me and don't have any connotations.

actually, of the girls, I'd say only Annika and Sasha would be easily recognised and still have the risk of being mis spelt (Anneka/Sacha)
depends how much it matters to you
If your family are obviously foreign born, personally I don't think it's such an issue as people will think, oh, that must be a name from X and hopefully make an effort
on the other hand if you might be mistaken for English I'm afraid people like me might think you'd made it up

I have only hearad of Annika and Sasha before but there is nothing wrong with the others, they all sound to me except Audrik which reminds me of Baldrick from Black Adder... probably just me though!

they all sound fine to me

I like Aria

Don't really like the boys names.

I know an Annika (althought I think she spells it Aneke)
I also know a few sashas, but don't think it's hugely popular.
I have never heard Annalia before but I think it's lovely.

I think they're all fine. They all seem to be fairly easy to pronounce.

There are Welsh/Gaelic names that sound odd to English people's ears and they still get used.

I've always liked Annika,no idea where I got it from as a child but I had a doll I named Annika.

Think most of these would be fine. Some might be mispronounced or misspelt though, and you'll need to think about whther that bothers you.

Aleta - OK
Aria - fine
Sajel - OK, but is the 'j' a "j" or "y" sound?
Annika - fine (commoner spelling is Anneka)
Ileana - OK
Annaleah a OK, but looks as if you've just run two names togeer
Annalia - don't like as it just looks too anal
Sasha - better on a boy; are you OK with unisex?

Ansel - OK
Audrik - OK (but a bit close to Baldrick)
Aidrik - doesn't do it for me, sorry

Theyre all Great. I love Ansel

They are all fine.

The only type of name you would want to avoid would be one that sounded like an English word, like, I dunno, Tabel ( not a name that I know of, I just made it up as an example).

Anyway, none of them sound odd - they may sound unusual, but there's nothing wrong with that.

actually i think Audrik sounds slightly feminine, but not terribly so

Of the girls' names I think Aria and Annika will be the most familiar - Aria as in an opera song and Annika as a (slightly unusual) firstname. Both very nice, particularly like Aria. I would pronounce it AH-ria, rather than A-ria to rhyme with carrier IYSWIM.

Sajel maybe doesn't translate so well - sounds a bit medical somehow, and not very feminine.

Aleta, Ileana and Annaleah/Annalia are unfamiliar to me but I can see them working well as there are plenty of similar British names - Amelia, Annalisa, Layla, Leah, Lila, Lana, Annabel etc. How do you pronounce Annaleah/Annalia, though? Is there any chance it might sound a bit like "anal"?!

Sasha - sounds a little bit dated to me, it was around as a girls' name in the 70s/80s. These days I think it's more used for boys (short for Alexander).

I really love Ansel. Again, quite English-sounding (I know some people with the surname Ansell) and there wouldn't be any problem with spelling it.

The other two boys names don't trip off the tongue as easily and I think there would be spelling problems with both. Audrik makes me think of Baldrick, but maybe the yoof don't watch Blackadder any more.

Girls:
Aleta - sounds like "a litre" as in a "a litre of milk"
Aria - Nice
Sajel - reminds me of satchel, a type of bag
Annika - Nice. I know an Annika who is British
Ileana - sounds like "I lean her"
Annaleah/Annalia - Nice. Annalia is nicer than Annaleah
Sasha - Nice

Boys:
Ansel - Nice
Audrik - Nothing wrong with it, just don't like it
Aidrik - Same as Audrick. Only negative thing with both these two is "drik" might get turned into "dick" a slang word for penis

I went to school in the UK with an Annika and love the name.

Of the boy names, I prefer Ansel, which I have heard in the US because of the very famous photographer, and I'm sure I've got an American former colleague with a son called Ansel. I really like it.

None of them look complicated to pronounce! They're all fine from that point of view. And the spellings are all fine.

To answer your question, I can't think of any obvious perculiarly British links or references to those names except for what Meditrina said about anal.

Aria, Ileana and Ansel are my favourites.

Ileana - just realised I am assuming you would pronounce this ILL-ee-ARN-a and not Eye-LEEN-a. If the latter, it sounds very close to Eileen which is definitely a granny name (but then they are popular at the moment...)

Is aidrick pronounced ad-rik? Thats one of Doctor Who's companions and gets my vote.

The only one I think might be problematic would be Sajel, because people wouldn't know if it was meant to be pronounced with a j or a y sound in the middle.

Personally I'm not keen on the Annaleah spelling, because it looks like you've just mashed two names together, but Annalia is nice. We know an Iliana, which I presume is pronounced the same as your Ileana, and I think that's a pretty name.

As for boys' names, preteen boys may well turn the -drik into 'dick' (cue sniggering) but they manage to make rude versions of lots of names, and they do grow out of it, so I wouldn't let that put me off.

I think they all seem fine, and if you tell people the name in the way you want it said they will soon learn. The boys names I thought would be more likely to be shortened to Rick or Ricky, if that bothers you. I love to hear names from other cultures so definitely don't feel awkward about using any of those!

Oh, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU so much for the really useful feedback! So much of this will be really helpful in making some final decisions. Coming up with the perfect name(s) is a pretty daunting task, and it feels even more so with the added element of being far from home. Thanks again for the all the feedback!