Aniela or Anna?

[karenangela]

We are expecting our first little girl and are having name problems! We have narrowed it down to two: Aniela or Anna.

I love Anna (after my grandmother) but my husband is not sure as it is also his sister's name. He likes his sister and we don't see her that often, but still..... My great grandmother was named Aniela so we are considering this too - my husband loves it and we were thinking of Ela for short.

What do people think?

I love Anna, its pretty and traditional, but still modern and lovely :)

I have never heard of Aniela, but am not really keen - how would you pronounce it? Ann-ee-ella or Ah-neil-la?

I don't know how to pronounce Aniela, my first thought would be Uh-Nee-Luh but guess it could equally be An-Eye-La or even said Annie-Ella? I've never heard the name before, how would you be pronouncing it?

Anna

Aniela is pronunced An-yell-a. It is an old Polish name (my mother's side of the family is Polish) and beautiful if said correctly - but pronunciation would be my concern too (particularly as our surname is tricky!). I have always loved Anna.....

I prefer Anna. But Aniela is also lovely :)

I love Aniela -I know one and pronunciation is a pain when you see it written down especially as there is an Aneela in the same class and people tend to pronounce the two names the same but people generally only need correcting once

Family nickname is Annie but most people use the full version

I have an Anna so il say Anna! It's pretty, simple, easy.
Aniela is nice but she'd spend her whole life having to repeat herself when people ask her name. (I say that as someone with a 'different' name, and have spent my whole life doing this! Think that's why I gave both my DDs simple names)

Anna.

I like Aniela. But maybe spell it with a double ll to encourage the right pronunciation?

Aniela with Anna as a nn?

Anna. Defiantly. What you could do is call her Annabel/Annabelle/Annabella and have Anna/Annie as a nickname or even Belle. Or there are other Anna type names like Annelise or Anya (I can't think of more off the cuff but I think there are loads!).

Anna is one of my favorite names. Aniela is also a great name...

I agree with notagiraffe that Aniella with 2 Ls would encourage the right pronunciation.

Aniela. I love it. I never understand this fear of names that may not be 'easy' to guess at pronunciation. My 5 year old has spent two years in a class with12 different nationalities represented and by 4 could pronounce names like Farzonakhon, Chaahithia and mirudhula. Go for it!

Thanks everyone - this is really helpful. I hadn't thought about spelling the name as Aniella to help the pronunciation - I think this is the Italian version and really like it. We could use Anna or Ella as nicknames....so many decisions!!!

Aniela is nice

Love Aniela not as keen on Anna

With the double L it looks like Annie-Ella

If be uncomfortable naming my child after my SIL, I love Aniela, so if go for that. I do know a couple of Anya's who are 45 and 18, so known but not common.

I love Anna.

Personally I'd not use the name of someone so close in the family, I think it's important that children have names that are their own and don't have to be shared with anyone else. You might not see your SIL that often, but will your dd spend time with her grandparents? She might not like being little Anna to them.

I see it's the Polish form of Angela, and I think having a bit of a 'tricky' surname might actually help, because people tend to (IME) make more of an effort for a name that they perceive as foreign than a name that looks almost but not quite English to them IYSWIM. I'd not mess about with spelling because it probably won't help and if you are naming your dd after a great grandmother then it makes more sense to use the actual name (and it's a nice story to explain the name too).

Aniela, sounds nice and is more interesting. also wouldn't like my child to have the same name as my sister (or sil).

I would pronounce it Ah NEEL ah, at a guess. Spelled Aniella, I'd pronounce it correctly.
I prefer Anna.