stuck on boy's names - not biblical?

[TeelaBrown]

I have loads of ideas for girl's names and they have met with approval from nearly everyone I've run them by. However, I am really struggling for boys. I've chosen a few names, but I wanted quite a plain middle name AND I wanted to avoid biblical names or more specifically, anything that could be used as a confirmation (Catholic) name. PIL iss-yoos... won't bore you here. To be honest, I'm not sure what the rules are on this (is it just New Testament?)...

Anyway, any suggestions very welcome! And feel free to comment on my boy's names although I already did a general names thread, so sorry if you've seen them before!

First names so far:
Leo
Sol
Miles
Theo
Jude
Ralph/Rafe

Middle names so far:
Benjamin
Alistair???
Alexander
Arthur

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Firstly, confirmation names are usually saints' names.

Secondly, you might want to drop Jude from your list...

[TeelaBrown]

Ah, should say - our surname is four syllables (double barrel) and starts with a vowel

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

To elaborate on the confirmation name, my confirmation name was Claire. Not overly religious you would think, so I'd check out any possible name at all before you use it.

[gorionine]

Benjamin also biblical, he was Joseph's youngest brother.

[TeelaBrown]

Ah right, so any Saint, even if not mentioned in the Bible? Tricky!!

[TeelaBrown]

So the Old Testament is also out?? There seem to be hardly any boys names left!

[comedaygoday]

From your lists I like Leo, Jude, Arthur and Alexander. However, Jude was Jesus's brother anf it is a saint's name and Benjamin was the youngest of Jacob's sons so it is also a biblical name so you may want to avoid these two.

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Leo was a pope and Leonard is a saint
Sol is Solomon - Old Testament
Theo is Theodore, a saint
Ralph was also a saint
Arthur was a saint
Alexander was a saint

You're ok with Miles... Sorry.

[TeelaBrown]

Oh well... looks like I may have to ditch this idea or just not go for any of the obvious ones. I don't care enough to completely limit myself... will just have to buy some earplugs to block out the crowing PIL. May as well get used to it!

Sol would just be Sol btw.

[TeelaBrown]

Still, if anyone has any good middle name ideas...

[gorionine]

Sorry , just realise that it is getting very complicated because of your PILs, why do you care so much? YOur baby will be your baby, not theirs! Does your DH/DP care as much as them?

[Thumbwitch]

What about Max? I don't know that there isn't a St Maximilian or St Max but if there is, he's not a common one (unlike St. Jude, who is patron saint of lost causes)

Lucas?
Miles is good

Or you could just go completely new wave and have Jayden or something similar.

[NotJustKangaskhan]

There are a lot of saints. If you really want to avoid them, I'd look through this site/ Use the letters rather than search as it also searches the stories behind them which can confuse things.

Of your list, the following are not listed saints:
Arthur
Sol (though it is short form for Solomon)
Rafe (but Ralph is a saint)
Alistair
Theo (though there are a lot of saints Theodore and other 'Theo' names, particularly due to Theo's meaning).

[TeelaBrown]

Gah. I won't go into too much detail about them. They are nuts. Very very pushy and over-involved and nuts. DP is an only child. 1st GC. Child must have a Catholic name. Not happening. Child must be baptised. Not happening. Child should have a 'suitable' name because they will probably choose to get baptised themselves when they are old enough to understand that we didn't save their soul from eternal damnation or some other gumph.

Just makes me want to do the opposite to send a clear message that this is our baby, and will be brought up according to our beliefs. And yes, I know I'm being petty. There is a long backstory to this. However, it turns out, it's unlikely to be possible anyway, and as I've said, I'm not prepared to let this issue take over so I will just go with whatever name and bloody ignore them.

[pamplemousserose]

Roman
Merlin
Rhys
Remus

[pamplemousserose]

Icarus
Sage
Aspen

[pamplemousserose]

Cameron

[NotJustKangaskhan]

I can understand it - my family has similar issues (though it's very right wing American protestantism/evangelism side rather than my mum's Catholic side which is very laid back comparatively). My children have very Hebrew middle names as it is now part of mine and my husband's identity which has not gone well with either of our families (DH's step-father is a very vocal atheist so giving them religious names was frowned upon).

It's possible, you already have a few, it will just take a bit of work. Personally, I think it may be easier to look into Biblical bad guys rather than non-saints unless you wish to look into more modern names (the older it is, the more likely someone with it has been sainted).

[Thumbwitch]

Herod
(not really).

[Scaevola]

Are there any good *Protestant" martyrs? Or perhaps try Calvin or Luther?

(And are you sure you don't have saints names in your list for a girl?)

[Thumbwitch]

oh there'd be a load of Protestant martyrs from the Tudor times, when Queen Mary was on the throne! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxe's_Book_of_Martyrs is a good source...

[TeelaBrown]

Humm... re: girl's names, not sure now!

Sylvie
Thea
Cleo (not Cleopatra!)
Astrid
Xanthe
Marla
Laurel
Joy - middle name only, others all interchangeable

[GwendolineMaryLacey]

Thought that was Maria on your list for a minute (crap eyesight) but is it Marla?

Anyway, I think you need to concentrate more on ignoring them completely rather than restricting your choice of possibly lovely names. If they're as pushy as they sound then even naming the baby Satan wouldn't stop them. It's none of their business for a start. There is also no such thing as a Catholic name. Thirdly, if your dc finds God when they grow up then they can change their name if it bothers them that much. That's for them to decide.

Am Irish Catholic btw :o

[BikeRunSki]

Sol not a good name if you live in a part of the world that prefaces family members' names with "Our".

"Our Sol" would not work here (S/W Yorks) for example.

[Thumbwitch]

PMSL at bikerunski!! Our Sol - hahahaha!