Felix?

[chaya5738]

What do you think?

We are really struggling for a boy's name and my husband came up with this last night. It is growing on me. But does it have too much cat association?! Too trendy?

Our other possibilities:

• Nathaniel (Nate)
  
• Gabriel (my favourite but husband worries about bullying)
  
• Theodore (Theo/Teddy)
  
• Isaiah
  
• Max
  
• Alexander

[evamummy]

The Felix cat food is in every supermarket... so hard to dis-associate it from the name imo.

Love Theodore and Isaiah!

[chaya5738]

Thanks! I am not originally from the UK (and don't have a cat) so not really familiar with how much it is associated with pet food. Good to know! We also like Ariel but that has similar problems.

[manicinsomniac]

I think it is too popular to be associated instantly with cat food now.

I had a friend at uni called Felix who was often known as 'Felix the cat'. But now I know several under 12 and everyone just sees it as a normal name.

I like it but prefer Nathaniel, Alexander and Isaiah. Lovely list.

[Hassled]

I like Felix and the 2 I know are both really nice kids. Means "lucky" in Latin.

[chaya5738]

Glad you like the names on the list! Isaiah is surprisingly popular with you - I might have to revisit!

Part of my problem is that I like them all but none really stands out. My husband is making a strong case for Felix so I am really wanting to like it in order to have one stand out name.

I am wondering whether you can just leave it to the birth and then know when you see the baby what he should be called? Do some babies look like certain names!?

[mayanna123]

Nice name but I too instantly think of the the tinned cat food, but then we have a cat and buy Felix cat food regularly .

[reastie]

I like Felix - it's a good strong name. Having said that, I do associate it with the cat food when I think of it, but if I knew someone called Felix I may equally think of that person not the cat food IYKWIM. I think don't let the cat food thing put you off if you really like it. I think Nate is quite 'in' at the moment. I love Gabriel but dismissed this for DD if she were a DS because there seems to be quite a few about at the min. ALso like Theo/Teddy and Isaiah too

[mayanna123]

I think Isaiah would be a lovely choice - classic, well known name but not overused.

[MagdalenaAlec]

My two cents:
Felix: I thought of it too but I chickened out because it makes me think of the black and white cat.. So we removed Felix from our boy names list even though it is a very lovely name.

I love Nathaniel, but I do not like the nickname "Nate" and because we live in the US there 0% chance he will ever be called by his full name. If you have no problem with Nate, I would pick this name! I find it absolutely lovely.

I do not understand what the problem could be with Gabriel? And Ariel? Both names are on my list too...

[chaya5738]

Thanks everyone! This is really helpful.

[chaya5738]

Thanks Magdalena My husband worries that Gabriel will get teased and called "gay" and that it is quite girly sounding. I think that this a silly reason from not choosing the name because 1) the name is quite popular now so the chases of being teased are small; 2) it is a very popular boys name in South America and Spain so it is silly to think it is a girly name; 3) I don't like the homophobia paranoia. I mean, so what if he gets called gay. Children think of numerous ways to torment each other anyway so if it isn't this it could very well be something else...

As for Ariel, there is the washing powder...But I do love it. We may use it if baby is a girl.

[HandMadeTail]

I love Felix, and would have called DS this, except it would have been too similar to one of my DD's names.

[HandMadeTail]

I thought Ariel would be for a boy. (From The Tempest?)

[reastie]

Re: teasting for a childs name - pretty much whatever you choose will have scope for teasing, although I realise some names may be more likely to have teasing than others. We didn't choose Ophelia for DD mainly as I did a mn names thread on it and got comments about that DD may get comments about 'Ophelia bottom' etc and once I'd heard that I just couldn't go through with calling DD it. Moral here is don't just go by what other people think - pick what you like and that you will be happy to call your DC forever more.

[chaya5738]

I think Ariel can be a boy's or girl's name. We put it in our "girl" list because we already have enough boys names to choose from :)

I do like it for a boy though but worry that on paper, in the UK at least, people would assume he were a girl because of the damn Little Mermaid.

[NarkedPuffin]

Ariel = washing powder or Little Mermaid. I'd see it as 100% a girl's name.

Felix is a lovely name if you live outside of the UK away from the cat food associations.

The rest of your names are all really lovely. If your DH is worried you could always use Gabriel as a middle name.

[FerrisBueller1972]

I like the name Felix, my ds best friend is called that and it really suits him! Like most of the names on your list actually :o

[NarkedPuffin]

HandMadeTail, you might think Shakespeare but most DCs would think Disney.

[NarkedPuffin]

I wonder if we could start a MN campaign to rename the cat food. It is a lovely name.

[chaya5738]

I am so happy with everyone (so far) liking my list. It makes me feel like we can't go wrong :)

I might start another thread about this crazy idea we have. Given that we aren't too fussed about which of the 6/7 names we choose, we were thinking about setting up an online surveymonkey survery amongst close friends and family and asking them to vote. Is that nuts? I don't usually advocate for asking family's opinions (for the usual reasons - people put you off a name, or get offended if you don't listen to them) but this survey may temper that? Are we crazy?

[reastie]

it's up to you chaya but if you did do that I'd be tempted to keep the poll results secret until your DS is born, builds up the tension and also when he is born if he definitely looks for example just like a Felix but felix didn't win the survey you could rig it change the results

[MagdalenaAlec]

chaya: the survey is definitely a good idea! I would keep the votes anonymous though (I have no idea if it is technically feasible)...
I am kind of having one here too because I do not want to discuss the names with the relatives.

I had not thought of "Gay" for Gabriel... (then again I completely forgot Ariel the washing powder - I have been living in the US far too long). I do not like the "regular" nickname "Gabe" either. Why on earth do people turn lovely names in what sounds like pet names?? As if all the brainstormings we parents are having were just a complete waste of time!! (sorry for the rant, blame the hormones :o)

[Badgerina]

Felix is on our list. Bugger the cat food association. It's only called that because of Felix being a cat's name. Cats are cool.

[UnderwaterBasketWeaving]

Love love Felix!

And how about "Nat" for Nathaniel?

[lovemygirlivy]

LOVE Felix - on are shortlist if our baby is a boy. Not to trendy a nice simple name that is not fussy or dated.