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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Miles or Hugh

34 replies

polkydot · 19/10/2014 15:29

We have a boy due in January, and had decided on Miles Alexander as his name, months ago. DH is now having doubts and likes Hugh Alexander. I do like the name, but have been so set on Miles. Any opinions to help?!

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Pimbeche · 22/10/2014 09:24

I prefer Hugh. And this is incorrect:
NadiaWadia Mon 20-Oct-14 17:11:12 Miles is nice. With Hugh you may get difficulties with pronunciation - wouldn't anyone from, say, Norfolk and maybe even the entire USA pronounce it 'Hoo'?
People in the US do not pronounce it "Hoo", it is pronounced properly as "Hugh".

Miles makes me think of Miles Davis -- great musician, not a bad image, but that is what I think of.

dreamingofsun · 22/10/2014 08:52

i agree that hugh isn't a chav name, but never felt it was really posh. my husband would have run a mile rather than name our child anything posh. its as cat says....a straight but not popular name, which is one of the reasons we chose it. not sure why i'm trying to convince you though, as i dont especially want it overused

NadiaWadia · 21/10/2014 23:24

No, Hugh is posher definitely. As in Hugh Laurie, who went to Eton I believe. Cannot imagine a Hugh with parents called Sharon and Wayne for example, can you?

Miles is more classless and I don't think it belongs in the same group of names as Piers etc at all.

catdoctor · 21/10/2014 20:47

We have a Hugh, only ever had positive responses. For me it's a 'straight' name (like George, William, Thomas) without being as common or garden as, say, George, William, Thomas.
I also like Miles - for me, he's posher that Hugh, just getting into potential micky-taking territory like, say, Quentin, Piers. Smile

Original poster
polkydot · 21/10/2014 20:36

I love Milo but my husband insists it's a dog's name, so I've given up on that.

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Original poster
polkydot · 21/10/2014 20:34

It's so difficult! I thought you probably meant posh wanky, I guess I can live with that.

There's a good chance of the baby being on the big side, DH and I are both tall and he looks like your classic rugby player, so huge Hugh could be a thing.

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dreamingofsun · 21/10/2014 18:00

my hugh was huge (off the baby charts) and noone called him huge....or not when i was around!!

WittyUsername102 · 21/10/2014 17:01

Love Miles.

rooted · 21/10/2014 16:04

I like miles. Also like milo too

GertrudeBell · 21/10/2014 16:02

I was dead set on Hugh for DC1, until someone pointed out that he would be "huge Hugh" if he were a bit on the big side.

So I called him something else and he turned out to be a GINORMOUS baby (pretty big in fact until he lost his toddler chub at 3). So a good decision for me.

DecaffTastesWeird · 21/10/2014 15:55

I prefer Hugh but maybe wait and see what he looks like when he is born. Smile

threefoureight · 21/10/2014 10:21

Hmm I went to school in an average area of Scotland with a Miles, so that has maybe coloured my opinion. :D

cherrybombxo · 21/10/2014 10:14

I don't know exactly, I just think they're a bit snobby and... wanky. But I'm from a fairly crap area outside Edinburgh and I went to a really rough, crap school where poshness was beaten out of you...

The names are fine, I suppose I've just never met anyone called either so I only have an image of what a "Miles" would be and my mind has decided he would be snobby! Grin

threefoureight · 21/10/2014 09:47

I've known couple of people called Miles, none were wanky.

In Scotland it seems fairly accepted, English mumsnetters have seemed more likely to say it's posh.

Dovahkiin · 21/10/2014 01:04

Married to a Hugh so I'm biased but I think it's lovely. Miles is a bit more popular, if it's a problem. Only issue DH has had has been living abroad where people occasionally pronounce it 'Huge' but I've yet to meet a man who would seriously object to that.

Original poster
polkydot · 20/10/2014 23:41

When you say wanky, what sort of wanky do you mean?

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Original poster
polkydot · 20/10/2014 23:40

Don't know what happened there, definitely meant pronunciation. Never known Shug as a nickname, not keen on that, but we're not in Scotland. I quite like that they're both short and don't really have associated nicknames.

Alexander's my brother's name and a family name, so much as I love it, I don't really want it as a first name.

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cherrybombxo · 20/10/2014 18:17

They're both a bit wanky for my taste... couldn't Alexander be the first name?

As mentioned above, "Hugh" becomes "Shug" in Scotland so I definitely couldn't have that! I've already vetoed James from my future name list because I couldn't have him called Jimmy Blush

Original poster
polkydot · 20/10/2014 18:12

I hadn't thought of pronoun citation being a problem with either of them!

OP posts:
NadiaWadia · 20/10/2014 17:11

Miles is nice. With Hugh you may get difficulties with pronunciation - wouldn't anyone from, say, Norfolk and maybe even the entire USA pronounce it 'Hoo'?

dreamingofsun · 20/10/2014 17:07

hugh - we have one and its always worked well for him and he likes it. its a sort of works anywhere name

rachel234 · 19/10/2014 22:04

I prefer Hugh!

Miles is the plural of Mile. Like Kilometres is to Kilometre.

squoosh · 19/10/2014 21:25

Miles.

DramaAlpaca · 19/10/2014 21:18

Miles Alexander

Squirm · 19/10/2014 21:14

Hugh