Mumsnet Talk

keeping in mind that we live in scotland...my family think that we are setting up a boy for a lifetime of bullying if we name him Tristan!
I imagine a nathaniel to be quite a sensitive little lad, but a tristan to be more boisterous...?

They're both great names, I love them both!

Tristan I think of as a bit more of an arty name, Nathaniel more of a classic.

Nathaniel is stronger and more classic.

Tristan is a bit 'wet' and weak sounding to my ears, as well as ultra 'posh'.

ooooh hard one, i really like both names

hmmm... do you have middle names yet?

I love Tristan, I think of it as a strong name - I think romantic hero as in 'Tristan and Isolde'. Not easy to shorten Tristan either so you wouldn't get lots of nicknames like you would with Nathaniel which would be Nat, Nate etc.

Love nathaniel not as keen on Tristan

I love them both, but it'd be Nathaniel for me

I much prefer Tristan Nathaniel is nice, but I absolutely hate the shortened Nathan, Nath etc...

Tristan is too close to Triste (sad) for me, I'm afraid.

How do you pronounce Nathaniel, like Nathan with -iel at the end?

Nuh-than-yul, "than" rhymes with flan, no? I'd use Nat as nn.
Both names I quite like too. DS2 is Tristan, not at all arty, quite boisterous but a big cry-baby, too.

Think would have to be:
Nathaniel Tristan...or
Tristan Nathaniel...

Nathaniel would be shortened to Nat by english relatives (in our part of scotland at least they don't seem to go for nicknames...). I always think of Puritans when I think of Nathaniel though (just because of Hawthorne and the Scarlett Letter)
DH's family are cornish, so we like the celtic/cornish connections of the Tristan & isolde story....

If I could just see what he will look like in 5 years time it would be much easier!

Sorry but I do not like either

Tristan is awful - imvho one of the worst boy names ever!

Nathaniel is OK but only cos I like Nat as a nickname (which you might hate!)

What other names do you think are the worst ever, Collision, and which are the best ever?

Love tristan don't like nathaniel.

Sorry that was a bit harsh OP. But if you live in Scotland and he is going to get teased then you might want to think about that!

Ragged Sorry. I have loads! If the OP had said she had called her son Tristan then I would not have commented but as it was between 2 names I think it was OK to say how much I disliked it!

I think when you have known people you dont like then it puts you off them.

Thinks......

Vanessa
Denise
Tristan
Cameron
Gareth

But we are all different and some would not like my boys' names but I do and that is all that matters.

Sorry if I offended.

I assume the OP is interested in HONEST opinions and that is what people are giving. No need to get defensive imo.

Love Tristan. Dislike Nathaniel.

I have a Nathaniel - he is called that but sometimes Nat. He's quite boisterous and extrovert and his the only Nathaniel around us at the moment!

Nathaniel is a good name and fairly unusual and Nate is a nice diminutive as well.

Tristan has a wuss-y sort of vibe to many people, although the sound of it is nice.

Am not offended, Collision, you're not the first to say something like that about Tristan. I honestly wondered what other names you thought were awful & why, what was it about Tristan that would make you want to puke. Tristan just seems too... innocuous to me. But maybe too English for living in Scotland, too. It could be that you & I quite like other names.

The only adult Tristan whom I have known personally was a nice funny cute guy, chemist who blew things up for fun. My Tristan is likely to have a Rugby build when he grows up, but with a soft cuddly teddy bear's heart.

There are no names I balk at only because I have known unpleasant specimens... in terms of "awful" names I usually only really stomach clench at names that sound purely ugly to me, and I just cannot understand why people would choose that over other nicer choices.

Nathaniel is strong and classy.

Tristan is awfully wet.

I usually hate K names too.

Kyle
Keiron
Kade

and

Brendon
Bradley
Jayden
Kaiden

type names.

Am actually very opinionated about names!

Love

Max
Theo
Rufus
Zac
Finn
Josh
Jake

and

Annabel
Sophia
Romilly
Adeleide
Clementine
Bea

but do not like

Ruth
Helen
Hope
and very old lady names such as Ada or Ethel or Mabel.

I have a Nathaniel, I really love his name although he does get Nathan from time to time which I don't like much.

We shorten his name to Natey, this is probably a scouse thing though and I am sure he will grow out of it to become Nate.

His surname is Johnson so I would imagine he will get Johno at school as did his dad and other relatives.

As I expected...truly divided opinions on Tristan .
I guess naming really does come down to personal taste - I have worked with under 5's and have known little boys of almost every name and spelling, but never a Tristan or a Nathaniel.
I kinda like the silence that follows when I tell people that we like Tristan for a boy (followed remarkably often by a suggestion of 'Riley,' 'Rory' or 'Lewis')

4 months left to decide, and I expect what it will come down to is how we feel on the day - if he looks like a Nathaniel or a Tristan. (Like the sound of Natey tho, kerri1983).

haha.... Collision. In the spirit of "You can dish it but can you take it?" I have to say that all of your boy faves are ideal names... for a Dog .