Need a "won't be one of seven in his class" boy name!

[moominleigh94]

Me again... still don't know what we're having but I realised that I hadn't given much thought to what if it's a boy... and now that everyone I know thinks I'm having a boy, I realised I'd probably better get a move on all the names I love for a boy, I'm worried (not too worried - not enough to put me off a name completely, I don't think) that he'll be one of six or seven in his class. Here are the names I like a lot (some have particular reasons for choosing them)

Dylan - I want Welsh in there somewhere but this is one of the only Welsh first names I like (grew up in a very very Welsh village where all the boys had Welsh names and they've put me off them!). Also love Dylan Thomas, which is what attracted us to the name in the first place. But seems like every classroom has four Dylans in it right now.

Tobias nn Toby - I really like it but not sure it's 'right' for us, OH loves it but there was a character in a children's film and he keeps saying the name in a Scottish accent and it drives me insane plus with Divergent coming out next year, it's going to become popular.

Rory - OH likes it, I think it's cute, just can't find a middle name (and Rory The Tiger/Rory The Racing Car puts me off)

Oscar - I love this one, but OH has a distant friend with a son called this and apparently it's reason enough not to use it, but last night he said he does really like it.

Alexander - I think it's a bit more 'classic' than my other choices. I'm just not keen on the nickname Alex, I much prefer Xand or Xander (a la Alexander Armstrong ) which I'm worried people think is too 'trendy' or whatever. OH really likes it too.

Tristan - OH really likes this, it's a nod to his and his family's passion for medieval history. I like it but hated the character in Stardust and also knew a very annoying boy with this name but different spelling.

Christopher - OH likes it. I don't.

Archie - Would be short for Archer. We're both quite keen on this one.

Joseph - Would probably be known as Joe. Again, just worried he'll be one of many in his classroom.

Basically I'm after opinions on whether the boys would be one of many with all these names, and any others similar to my choices (so not Clement or Horatio) that might be better?

Names I like but we can't use -
Monty - it's the name of my car
Alfie - Friend's sister is due month before me and they're calling their little boy Alfie.
Jack

[TobyLerone]

I have a Joseph (Joe). It's an excellent name. There have always been a couple in his schools (he's 14 now) and he's one of two Joes in his rugby team, but he's not bothered. It's not the most popular name, but he'll probably never be the only one anyone knows.

It's such a great name, though. It suits boys/men at all ages. It's popular for a reason.

Tristan is on our list for DC3 (due tomorrow) if it's a boy. I love Rory. Always have. It's a possibility for us. But I think it's probably getting up there with Joseph in the popularity stakes.
Ditto Alexander, which is also lovely.

Not so keen on Oscar. I think it's dating very quickly and also it's a dog's name.

And Toby is fab :o

[SavoyCabbage]

Seems to me that you both like Alexander and the only reason that you aren't having it is in case other people think Xander is over the top. Which is madness. You both like it. It's not overly popular (like Oscar) and it's a fine name.


People are going to be judging you constantly anyway. Whether he wears a hat or on the way home from the hospital. What pram you have. What you feed him. What school you choose, whT hat you wear at his wedding.

[Wibblytummy]

A lovely list of names. If it's any help we've got a Tristan, I've never come across another at any of his groups/classes, no one ever mentions the stardust character when they hear it and it's a lovely nod to my DH welsh roots as well :)

[FilthyFeet]

If your priority is not having a 'common' name then you should look to the classics, imho:

Robert
John
Paul
Michael
Mark
David
Matthew

Or if your DH likes Tristan, how about Tristram? (which I personally think is a bit try-hard, but at least there won't be dozens of them).

[RightInTheKisser]

I am a teacher and I have been teaching for 10 years. I have never taught more than two children with the same name in a class.

Go with the name you like. I have never taught a Joseph for instance but have taught a couple of Tristans.

[elvesavleftdabildin]

Etc - now that is unusual.

[MyNameIsKenAdams]

I know of a few Rorys. Dont know any Dylans, Tristans or Tobys.

Archie, Alfie, Josephs are ten a penny round my way (NE)

Id go for Tristan Alexander

[blackandwhiteandredallover]

If you want something Welsh how about:

Gethin
Huw
Rhys
Geraint
Tomos

all fab names!

[NigellasDealer]

Alexander is a great, classic name, and Xander is not too 'out there' - later he can choose to be Alex/Alec/Xander

[MyNameIsKenAdams]

Griff (Griffin) - this was on our boys list along wih Travis. Had a DD though.

[TheNightIsDark]

I have a Jack. He's one of one in his class


I like your list except Tristan. It sounds really weak (no offence to any Tristan owners!)

[OhCaptainDarling]

My god you are me OP.. Due to have a boy in 2 wks and I'm having the same problem. And we like the same names too.

Alexander, I agree about Alex. For us Xander or Ander as a nn.

Tristan too, I like but DH can't make up his made if it's wet or not.

We have discounted John nn Johnny as we already to a few older members of our family called John. Would that work for you?

[cheminotte]

If you like Alexander go with that. I know a few Xanders. But be aware you cannot stop him being called Alex later on. So if you'd really hate that then go with a name where you like all possible nicknames too.

[ShadowFall]

If you're worried about name popularity, it might be an idea to dig out the most recently published set of offical babyname stats to see where your suggested names rank.

Obviously there's regional variations in naming, and names sometimes get more popular very quickly, so no guarantees, but kids with lower ranking names are less likely to be one of 7 in a class.

[moominleigh94]

We're in Wales which is why we're worried Dylan is likely to be really popular as that's our favourite at the minute. Alexander is a close second at the moment, and I'm not fussed on what others call him really, I don't mind Alex that much - he'd probably be Xander to us but Alex to everyone else which is fine by me

Little boy in my family called Jack so can't go for Jack otherwise it'd probably be top of the boys list.

blackandwhite Thanks for the suggestions :)
OH hates Gethin
Huw is the name of my lecturer
Rhys is very likely going to be the middle name as it's a family name
Geraint is OH's Dad's name
I'm not keen on Tomos


At the moment our top 3 is looking like

Dylan Rhys
Alexander Rhys
Toby Rhys

Thanks for all the advice!

[TheArticFunky]

You never can tell what will be popular in your sons cohort.

There are two little boys in ds's nursery class with the same very unusual name that I had never heard of before.

The name Jack was number 1 for years and years and yet we have never come across a single one.

[TheNightIsDark]

Alexander is good. I have an Alexandra who currently answers to Lex although I love Alex for a girl so I'm working on her

She's only called Alexandra at home. People will always use their own nicknames if you tell them the child's full name. If you say "this is Xander" then they will more and likely refer to him as Xander.

[DoTheStrand]

I love Dylan though it is v popular (and we are nowhere near Wales). Tristan is my favourite of all your suggestions and I've never actually met one.

My DS2 is Cassian - we've had nothing but positive reactions to it though no one had ever heard it before (and we hadn't met another until I took him to a new dentist who me with a big grin and said 'I've got a Cassian! Never met another before.')

[EvilTwins]

My friend has an Archie whose full name is Archer. At the time she thought she was being original, but now knows of 2 other Archers the same age.

[DoTheStrand]

Oh and as i think someone else said look locally, don't go by the national lists - unusual names do seem to occur in clusters (either chance or people overhearing round town...)

[GimmeDaBoobehz]

I like all these names except Tristan. It just sounds too Americanised to me and seems a little too try hard - but that's only my personal opinion.

I know an Alexander who is called Alex and it's classic but not overly popular. It wont be spelt incorrectly and there is a number of nicknames that are available, as well as the full name.

I like Rory but whenever I think of Rory I think of an Irish name not that it's a problem of course. It's a lovely name and I would consider using it myself with DC2.

Archie is a nice name but my partners dog is called Archie so would seem weird for me personally but I think it's cute. But cute names sometimes don't carry when they are grown up.

My sisters dog is called Toby so wouldn't be in our list but it is a nice name.

Dylan is nice but I imagine would be very popular in Wales.

Joseph is simple and OK although wouldn't be on my list personally.

Oscar reminds me of the cat in the adverts but it's a nice name and is my cousins name.

Christopher is pretty generic and you can't go wrong with it.

As far as name suggestions perhaps a few of these might be useful as you seem to like similar names to us:

Joshua
Charlie (Charles)
Daniel
Gregory
Kieran
Liam
Noah
Sean
Thomas

I am sure there must be others just a couple of suggestions that you may like.

[ISpyPlumPie]

I'd agree that just because a name is popular it doesn't automatically mean you'll come across loads of them. DS1's name is now top 5, but so far he's been the only one in his class. There were however two boys with the same name that is somewhere in the 110's (only know this as it happened to be next to Ds2's name in the list, I'm not some strange baby name rankings obsessive )

I like all the names on your shortlist of three. Toby was a serious contender for DS2. I couldn't use Alexander due to nightmare ex though - such a waste of a perfectly good name!

[absentmindeddooooodles]

Love alexander. I considered it for ds. Others we liked were:

Rory
Jesse
Christopher
Reuben
Myles
William
Sebastian
Seth
Jacob
Loki
Sonny
Tobias

We ended up calling him jude :)