Joe/Spike - your votes are needed please!

Exactly he chose it.

"I know Spike Milligan was Terence!"

"But the point was that he had a choice of 4 proper names."

And he STILL chose Spike .

I love the name Spike.

My ds is called Joe and obviously I love that name too BUT there are an awful lot of Joes around.

I really like unusual names but DH vetoed them all.

Spike Milligan has this NN because of his large...urrm...appendage.

Just thought you might want to know.

Frontpaw - mum conjures up large man with tattoos and a leather jacket with a mohican.

Ladies with DDs - flash forward 18 years. 'Mummy, Daddy, I'm bringing home my new boyfriend. His name is Spike'

I know Spike Milligan was Terence!

But the point was that he had a choice of 4 proper names.

A Spike will certainly be remembered more easily than a Joe, Steve or Mike. And thats a good thing imo.

Only if you have that sort of personality. I can't say that I wanted to be remembered as a DC-I preferred to fade into the background!
I know a Lavender my age and she hates the fact that she is always the one remembered in a group.

welovesausagedogs - now I LOVE Percy. :)

Spike is goddamn awful. No. Just no. Poor kid. Joe is a bit boring - surely you can think of something else?

Never known a Primrose before. Trying not to think about Dr Harold Shipman's obese wife.

Surely you want to be remembered for your personality and deeds, not your name! A name is not an achievement.

I like Spike! I know a grown-up one.

But Joe is my all-time favourite. If I'd had a boy, he would have been Joe. And 'Primrose and Joe' sounds better than 'Primrose and Spike'.

I think the problem is that for your son you have a choice between really unusual vs. very normal. Whereas your daughter name is unusual but it is a name that is still used can be shortened whereas with spike you can't change it to have a nickname etc.

What about:
Bertie
Jake
Oscar
Frankie
Freddie
Saul
Silas
Basil
Buddy
Herbie
Percy
Alfie
Arthur (artie)
Jackson

I like Primrose and Percy

A Spike will certainly be remembered more easily than a Joe, Steve or Mike. And thats a good thing imo.

I agree. It's the personality that holds someone back, not their name. And really, is Spike really that far out? It's not as though the OP wants to use Manure or Toggle.

Spike Jonze
Spike Lee
Spike Milligan

Question for you - would any of the above got as far as they did if they'd stuck with their 'normal' names?

CaveM "The problem is that some parents (not accusing the OP of this) seem to get competitive about how unusual the names they use are. A lot of names sound cute on a baby/toddler but plain daft on a grown adult."

I completely agree with this. I found it so hard when naming mine because you know you're part of a cultural wave when it comes to names anyway. I didn't want to be one of those 'we thought we were being so different by naming him Mungo' people because actually in ten years time schools are going to be chocca with Mungos, Milos and Ignatios.

FWIW though, as I say my husband is a Spike - the reaction he tends to get (as a mid-40s bloke with a high-profile job) is a very good one. People sometimes think it's a vaguely amusing, but that's it. I can't believe for an instant a name would ever hold you back in life - once you become an adult you just are who you are. It's a bit different when you're stood looking at the names written on the coat pegs at nursery drop-off time - at that point you look at the names and make judgements about who the parents are

Joe first

I'm sorry but :o at sash

Why not go for the full 'William the Bloody'?

The problem is that some parents (not accusing the OP of this) seem to get competitive about how unusual the names they use are. A lot of names sound cute on a baby/toddler but plain daft on a grown adult.

Naming a child does not require individuality, they are by virtue of their existence individuals.

Names of siblings do not need to "go together" either. They are individuals, not a unit, so it really doesn't matter if the names don't match. After all, they will spend far more of their lives apart from each other than they will together.

[climbs off soapbox]

I know Spike Milligan was Terence! Sorry to break it to you but Spike from Buffy wasn't that guy's real name either. I just said what Spike reminded me of, that's all.

Spike suits a teenager too, not just a toddler.

I'd go with Spike though. Definitely. And really, if you met an adult in RL who was a teacher or a librarian or whatever and he said his name was Spike, would you actually judge him for it and never go near him again or would you just smile to yourself?

People get so het up about 'weird' names.

That's the other thing, there are no nicknames possible with Spike (because it is the nickname). You can use it as a nn but give him a different 'official' name and I really think that'd be better. I like the suggestion of Seth. Why not browse some of the 'unusual boy's name' threads for inspiration?

We know a Spike who is very sweet. It's a terrible name though!

Joe is lovely, spike is just too weird and doesn't really go with Primrose (which is beautiful by the way).

I think of Spike Lee. Wasn't that a nickname? I knew of a Buster (as a given name). I always have the mental picture of Busta Bloodvessel or one of the Bash Street Kids (don't think there was a Buster, but it seems to fit).

Not keen on Joseph, not sure why.

Primrose is lovely, and it can be shortened to Rosie, which is cute.