Alexander, Daniel, Dominic, Nicholas, Rory or Sebastian?

I think they're all nice names but the ones I like best are Alexander and Daniel.

I have an Alexander who is known as Ally. He dislikes Alex and corrects people if they call him it. So not inevitable

Dominic was his 'other' name but dh went for Alexander

We have an Alexander too, and he has always been Alexander or Xander to us, never Alex. However I have to say Alex is pretty much inevitable at school I'm afriad, unless your ds will have a forceful personality and the will to correct every single person every single time. Our ds gets called Alex by most of his friends and doesn't seem to mind it at all. I really dislike Alex personally but I accepted the fact when we named him that he might well choose to use it for himself at some point.

I have an Alexander so am biased It's been shortened it to Alex from the day he was born and that's what he prefers. We also use Al, Xander and Xand at home. He's uni age now but got dubbed 'sexy Lexi' by the girls at school so while Alex isn't inevitable as a nn you may need to be prepared for something unforseeably creative (although that probably goes for any name).

I'm probably not much help

Nicholas gets my vote (that's what we called DS) ;-) - we call him Nicky (when he was younger) or Nic. Will be great whatever he grows up to do. There is only one other Nicholas in a school of 300+.

Do you shorten Thomas's name at all? Tom and Nicky sounds nice :)

I like both your others but am not as keen on their nns.

I have a Nicholas and a Rory, so I say go for either of those!

Well from your short list both Alexander and Nicholas work very well with Daniel as a middle name or you could even go for Nicholas Daniel Alexander Bloggs which sounds great imo

Was going to say Daniel or Dominic.
Like them all actually apart from Rory.
I think I'd go for Daniel - and I do know a Thomas & Daniel sibset! Lovely!

I was going to say Daniel, Dominic and Nicholas. I do know a family with a Tom and Dom and it took me ages to realise that it was matchy! I love Dominic but not the Dom shortening so would want to discourage the nickname anyway personally. Also with Alexander I think you may struggle to stop Alex so if you're not keen I would rule that out too.

Daniel and Nicholas both lovely choices.

I prefer Alexander/Xander, and Daniel.

I have a Sebastian, lovely name and we're not posh

Alexander is a bit popular for my taste but I'd advise going with your gut instinct x

My family includes a Thomas an Alexander a Daniel and a Nicholas so I think your choices are great. Personally I'd go for Sebastian. Don't like Rory at all - sorry

Nice names! Several of these were on my short-list for DS2.

Alex as a nn for Alexander is not inevitable. I know three Alexanders. One is Alex, one is Sandy and the other is Xander. My own son is known universally as his nn (chosen by us). It's even on his medical file and he's know at school by that name rather than his real name. If you want to use a particular version, tell everyone 'His name is Alexander, but we call him XX'. I've found everyone to be totally cool with that.

I like them all! All were on our lists at various points. Alexander is my favourite although Daniel, Rory and Nicholas are fairly close behind.

There are 4 Alexanders in my DS1's year, including DS1.

Of these, DS1 is known as Alex, and the other three are Sandy, Xander and Alexsi.

So, no, Alex is not an inevitable shortening.

[I also have a Daniel - so I like the cut of your jib!]

I have a Sebastian, he thinks he has a 'cool' name (aged 11) most people seem to agree. We also had Dominic on the list...nothing to do with my Jilly Cooper problem.

You can't use Sebastian as it is my name.

Sorry.

Obviously it is my favourite. And we are very working class. Don't be put off by posh.

I named my dd francesca so she won't be held back later on in life if you believe all that crap about judging people by their names.

And when Sebastian gets here (edd 20/12) he will have the same.

Oh yes...

Dominic wouldn't work..

You'd have Tom and Dom.

We have very similar taste.

Alexander - I like this but I'd prefer Xander as a nn

Daniel - I love Daniel, DH does not.

Dominic - I like this but can't see it working on a baby/small child. I also don't like Dom as a nn

Nicholas - I like Nicholas but it's further down my list if that makes sense.

Rory - I don't like Rory, no idea why though!

Sebastian - I really do like Sebastian but I can't use it because I'm a Mark Webber fan so I could not call my child after Sebastian Vettel (f1 geek right here )

I always picture the names together so:

Thomas and Alexander - Yes this works.
Thomas and Daniel - Yes this works too, maybe not as well as Thomas and Alexander (Thomas and Xander...cute!)
Thomas and Dominic - This doesn't work for me.
Thomas and Nicholas - No this doesn't work for me either. I think it might be the fact that both end in "as".
Thomas and Rory - No doesn't work for me.
Thomas and Sebastian - This works too!

I like all of them. I don't normally say that.

Favourite is Nicholas.

Least favourite is Dominic.

I have a soft spot for Daniel and Rory.

I do think Alex is a very natural shortening of a four syllable name, unless you start from a young age with an alternative nn.

Alexander for me, with nn xander .

Alexander - lovely name, but yes Alex is probably inevitable

Daniel - like, good solid classic name

Dominic - OK, perhaps slightly frilly

Nicholas - like

Rory and Sebastian - OK but sound like they might not quite fit what you're looking for

You have very similar taste to me and we went with one of those and have had nothing but good comments on it, so they are all good!