Boys' names: thoughts and ideas?

[ACatCalledFang]

Baby No-Name-Yet is due next week....any thoughts on our shortlist would be welcome, as well as suggestions! We have struggled to find names we both like. I'm not a fan of surnames-as-first-names, and DP has rejected most traditional names like George, Henry, etc.

Current shortlist is:

Gabriel
Isaac
Samuel
Sebastian

I love Joseph, and also like Francis and Theo. DP is not bothered. Also love, but can't use, James, Thomas and Alexander.
DP likes Benedict, Bruce and Solomon. I'm less keen...

Middle name is likely to be Arthur, or possibly Dominic.

Surname begins with D, and is Irish/Scottish. It ends in a "y" sound so need to be careful about first names with this ending or it might sound a bit rhyme-y, IYSWIM. We still have to decide whether to double-barrel (in which case surname will begin with C-D) or put my surname in as the second middle name.

DP's first choice would be Gabriel Arthur. Mine would be Joseph Samuel/Samuel Joseph.

Thoughts, please! Any ideas for names we may have overlooked but might both like would be great. Thanks.

[ButterflyOfFreedom]

Ooh I like a lot of the names you mentioned especially Gabriel, Isaac and Joseph.

Joseph Samuel is lovely as is Gabriel Arthur (sorry probably not much help?!).

Other suggestions:
Nathan / Nathaniel
Jacob
Caleb
Zachary
Marcus
Daniel
Jonah
Lucas
Alex

[ACatCalledFang]

Thanks! Some really helpful suggestions there - I like Nathaniel and Lucas (both are on the "not completely off the table" bit of our original longlist!).

I also love Jacob but am concerned it would get abbreviated to Jake, which I really don't like. I may be overthinking this, though...

And I really like Caleb, which isn't a name we've discussed, so will throw that into the ring!

Of the others, Zachary won't work with our surnames (both end in -y), though I like it. I'm not a fan of Marcus or Daniel, and Alex is too close to Alexander for us to use it. Hadn't considered Jonah....

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

Gabriel Arthur is gorgeous.

Other ideas:

Gideon Arthur
Simeon Arthur

[Iliveinalighthousewiththeghost]

Call him Gabriel. It's gentle yet strong and at the moment not over used. Sebastian is quite nice though. Don't like your other names sorry.

[ACatCalledFang]

Can't use Gideon, it reminds me of George Osborne! Simeon is one I hadn't thought of, though.

I'm torn about Gabriel, I like it (and Gabe, which we'd probably use as a nickname) but not quite sure it's "the one", if you see what I mean?

All opinions really helpful - please keep them coming! We've had a very firm policy of refusing to share our shortlist in real life (our parents are not slow to offer opinions, shall we say, and my mother thinks our choices should be put up for a family vote, not entirely sure she was joking ) but it has the obvious disadvantage of not knowing how names come across to others.

[boys3]

Sebastian with Gabriel a close second - although I am biased :)

[Charbar1]

From the names you've listed at the top I like the combination Joseph Arthur if that helps! What about Jude?

Gabriel is a really good name too - familiar but I've never met one in real life.

[SmugairleRoin]

I like Samuel, or Isaac.

Gabriel and Sebastian, also nice but I'm not loving them quite as much (sorry to the above poster).

Seeing as you like Biblical names, what about Elijah, Peter or Michael? Peter and Michael wouldn't be too popular atm I think.

[Quasilulu]

Joseph Benedict would be my choice from your list...which is lovely. The only name on there I dislike is Arthur which sounds sour to me. Don't get Arthur's resurgence at all.

[Blondie87]

I love Samuel Arthur or Joseph Arthur.

[ACatCalledFang]

Thanks for your thoughts - at the moment, Arthur is likely to be the middle name partly because DP really likes it, but there are also family reasons for using it.

SmugairleRoin, I hadn't considered Elijah - but I like it!

Charbar1, I really like Jude but DP isn't keen .

[HopOnTheMonnerBus]

I honestly know 5 boys called Samuel Joseph. Eldest is 16, youngest is 2. It's such a popular combination. Great if you're ok with that but it would really put me off a name combo knowing that so many others had it.

Gabriel is lovely though.

[Szeli]

Ezra?

[swimmerforlife]

I really, really love Samuel Joseph I have a Samuel

Gabriel is lovely too.

Suggestions:
Noah
Aaron
Reuben

[ACatCalledFang]

Hadn't realised Samuel Joseph was such a popular combination! Both DP and I have fairly common, classic names so not too concerned about popularity unless it's the sort of name where there are six in each class or something.

Looks like Gabriel is the front-runner at the moment, followed by Joseph and Samuel....

I like Noah and Reuben, but was overruled on the latter by DP. Less keen on Aaron and Ezra. Doesn't have to be a Biblical name, though - we're not religious, it's just coincidence that most of the names we both like are from the Bible!

Anyone got any suggestions regarding non-Biblical names along similar lines to Sebastian that we might like?

[poocatcherchampion]

Lots of your names are also on our list. I can also throw in Seth and Christopher non Kit.

We haven't actually got the one yet either - after 4 years...

[dotdotdotmustdash]

Benjamin or Matthew would be my suggestions. Ben and Matt are both strong and ageless short versions.