Boys name - please give your opinions

[Bunnyjo]

Hello all,

I am pregnant with DC2 and it was confirmed at the 20wk scan that he is definitely a boy.

DH and I have been discussing names and we have whittled it down to a shortlist of 3 names. They are:

Oscar
Ruben
Elijah

Any opinions would be gratefully received - thanks

[tummytickler]

Ruben or Elijah. My 8 year old is an Elijah (but he goes by Eli), and I still love his name, but I only like it with a soft 'J', and get very annoyed when people pronounce it with a hard 'j' as in jam!
Irrelevant, as he will not be called anything but Eli!
Ruben is lovely 2. It is a family name on my mothers side, but we cannot use it - so I would like you to use it for me please .
Oscar is very dull, but you do have the glorious Oscar Wilde as a rather fabulous namesake. I do not like the name though.

[tummytickler]

I am sorry, I do not know why I put a numerical 2 instead of too! I don't do text speak, but clearly it is seeping into my brain!

[onimolap]

Oscar - lovely, but quite a lot of them around.
Reuben - OK
Elijah - sounds like a member of a non-Conformist sect.

[catinboots]

Oscar - boring

Elijah - Nice but a bit Meh

Reuben - gorgeous

[PracticallyImperfectInEveryWay]

In order of preference:
Elijah (by a country mile)
Oscar
Ruben

[diddl]

Oscar def the best.(imo)

Reuben- nice

Elijah-really dislike.

[BikeRunSki]

Adore Reuben.
Oscar- Lot of 'em about
Elijah - Not really, but I am clearly outnumbered.

[LaTristesse]

Oscar - lovely, but popular
Reuben - I like, nn Ben maybe?
Elijah - I like Eli, but not so keen on the full length name...

[NewImprovedJollster]

All nice, prob Elijah the most different. (Trying to work out more than one way to pronounce this tummy, how do you do a soft j? [dullard emoticon])

[Bunnyjo]

Oohh, thanks so far everyone. Will show this to DH.

We were wondering whether to spell Ruben with an 'eu' instead, as that is more traditional and it seems that could be the way to go if we do choose that name.

NewImprovedJollster - Elijah would be with a soft 'j' as in how the French say Jean or Jour etc rather than a hard 'j' as in Jam or Jolly etc.

[Bunnyjo]

And Tummytickler, if we go with R(e)uben, we will definitely do it in your family's honour

[PlanetLizard]

Oscar - don't like
Ruben - OK but would spell Reuben
Elijah - love this :)

[NewImprovedJollster]

ah got it, thanks.

would never think of pronouncing Elijah with a soft j. And would presume anyone who did to be a bit odd/pretentious or French .

[Bunnyjo]

Funnily enough DH and I disagreed on this - I pronounced with a hard 'j' and he pronounced with a soft 'j', I came round to his way of thinking, probably because I am the more pretentious one in our marriage . I think you're right though, it would be pronounced both ways by people and would probably annoy both DH and I - we both have names that are mispronounced all the time and I find that insanely annoying, despite both our names being rather normal and definitely not unusual

[PlanetLizard]

Agree with NewImprovedJollster. I've never heard of using a soft j for Elijah. I've heard the name many times in various English churches and it's always been a hard j.

[sophiesmummie]

Really dislike Oscar (and Os/Ossie). Ruben is ok, a little dull, but I love Elijah!

[MaElsie]

Actually, in the Hebrew, Elijah doesn't have a J in at all - it's a Y (El-i-yah). So no English pronunciation is correct. Just thought I'd mention it.

Really really love the name Elijah, but had a girl first time round so couldn't use it. Someone called Elijah would have to be tall, broad, handsome and with a deep voice - how could it be any other way?!

Reuben is great too, but Ruben seems an unusual way to spell it if you're English. Oscar I could take or leave.

Other ideas... Malachi, Jonah, Gabriel

[fel1x]

I've ONLY heard the name Elijah used with a 'soft' J!
I liked the name but hearing that the hard J is most used has put me off!

[Eglu]

Elijah is the nicest by far.

[muminthemiddle]

I like Ruben the best.

[brillopads]

Another hand up for Reuben.

[sarken]

Oscar - I know 2 cats called Oscar (sorry)

Ruben - lovely name

Elijah - love Elijah & Eli

[Bunnyjo]

Thanks everyone...

Seems like a pretty even split at the moment, maybe Oscar at the bottom (which is DD's favourite), with Reuben and Elijah not far ahead. Had to laugh when I saw your post sarken, when I mentioned we were thinking of Oscar to my mum she replied with 'Oscar is a flipping cats name not a boys name!'

I am leaning towards Reuben and DH is leaning towards Elijah. With DD preferring Oscar, it looks like we still have some bickering talking to do...

[Bunnyjo]

Oh and I think we will definitely spell it Reuben as opposed to Ruben, when, if I get my way if we chose this name

[NewImprovedJollster]

bunny or hope it's a girl with a penis? Earn you lots of money...