Derek? Brian?

[RakeABedOfTyneFilth]

Right, now that I've got your attention...

DH's family is full of seriously 70s names. The above, Keith, Graham, Arnold, all very of their time. My family's names are all very New Testament, except for a Douglas which crept in once in the 1950s.

Having DC2 in the next 6 weeks, don't know if it's a boy or a girl but I have no stand out winner boy name ideas and DH and I haven't really had a names conversation at all. DS is George.

So here are some boy names which I like but for one reason or another won't work (too close a relative already has it or sounds silly with our surname, which is the other word of this series: John, ..., George, Ringo).

Philip (Pip)
Christopher (Kit)
Anthony

Don't like many of the very popular boys names of the moment - William, Jack, Alfie, Harry, Oscar, Oliver.

I like (but don't love) and can't see anything against:
Richard
Matthew
Michael
David

Can anyone help with more ideas in that vein? Quite 'safe' and traditional but a bit less used.

Middle name might be Carrey (a family surname)

[DoItTooJulia]

Alan is growing in popularity and Sam, nn Sammy. And John, nn Johnny.

[MoreThanWords]

Not Sam with your surname!

[Tidypidy]

James
Timothy
Benjamin
Thomas

[curlew]

Patrick
John
Peter

[MoreThanWords]

I think Jonathan rather than John;
Patrick?
Alex(ander)
David?

[AKissIsNotAContract]

Benedict.

[AnathemaDevice]

Nicholas.

[RakeABedOfTyneFilth]

Oooh responses already my goodness! thank you!

John/Jon [surname] would sound a bit like I'd named him after the Pope, maybe I should have put that in the 'like but can't use' list.

We know a Ben and a couple of Thomases in quite close friends. I should have also said I have an aversion to Thomas the Tank Engine characters. So Thomas, Edward, James, are not so much out but pushed down the list.

I would place Alan in the 70s with Keith, sorry! Also (from TtTE) Gordon.

Patrick and Peter would alliterate with our surname, which I don't mind but am wary of.

Alexander as a sibling to George is rather ... royalist and of the moment?! Also, female form is used in very close proximity in our family.

I like Timothy!!!

[RakeABedOfTyneFilth]

OOOOOOH BENEDICT!!!

[VelvetStrider]

Simon
Henry
Alvin
Benji
Stefan
Nicholas
Martin
Robin

[Littlecherublegs]

Nicholas
Simon
Robert
Mark
William
Christian
Andrew
Marcus
Damien
Owen
Martin

Like Anthony & Benedict which have already been mentioned too.

[JamieandtheMagicTorch]

I love Matthew,

And Michael
And Patrick - seriously under-used


I also love Marcus


What about:

Leon
Ray

[JamieandtheMagicTorch]

Daniel - not sure how popular it is atm

[RakeABedOfTyneFilth]

I'm on the ONS website now to see whether my perception of (over)popularity is right or not. To answer JatMT, Daniel is 14th in 2011 (the 2012 stats come out in a couple of weeks).

James is 8th (Jamie 49th in its own right)
Benjamin is 25th (Ben 97th)
Matthew is 43rd
Sebastian 47th
Michael 53rd
Aidan 101st
Christopher 111th (Kit 781st)
Andrew 141st
Nicholas 148th
Anthony 153 (Tony 495th)
Richard 237
Martin 244
Timothy 298
(it gets difficult to scan through at this point in the list because there are loads of interesting spellings)
Benedict 420

[sleepingbeautiful]

Fraser
Dominic
Gerrard
Theodore
Howard
Joseph
Eric
Stephen
Gregory
Malcolm

[JamieandtheMagicTorch]

yy to Dominic and Gregory

[RakeABedOfTyneFilth]

Hmmm, I am not really taken with sleepingbeautiful's list although I can see the style direction it has taken and appreciate it. :) Stephen is already in close family but I like it, Joseph I like too but a little too biblical, Theodore nice but does it go with George (DS)? I think DH's family would take the piss of anything they thought was poncey. I would fight back for Benedict, I am just not sure I would defend Theodore as much...

I have remembered I previously started a thread about unisex names and rather liked Laurie, which would be Lawrence for a boy.

I think my list now stands at (in no particular order)
Matthew
Lawrence
Benedict
Michael
James
Timothy
Anthony
Andrew

They could all be the names of trustworthy tradesmen or authoritative academics, couldn't they?!

[sleepingbeautiful]

I think so.
Maybe Lawrence will fall into your poncy category though if your family couldn't take Theodore/Theo. Also likely to get Larry not Laurie.
James is a lovely name, but so popular.
Timothy, Andrew much less so at the moment.
Other suggestions: Alistair, Edwin

[sleepingbeautiful]

Julian

[StealthPolarBear]

Les? :o

[rockybalboa]

I know of brothers called George and Timothy, lovely combo!

[SconeInSixtySeconds]

I love Benedict (biased) :o I think you definitely need a multisyllabled first name with your surname.

[SconeInSixtySeconds]

SPB :o :o

[WafflyVersatile]

My brothers are called Derek and Brian!

[Standautocorrected]

Matthew and Lawrence were both on my list for dc3 who turned out to be a dd!

I personally wouldnt go with michael if you already have a George.