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Baby names

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

Original poster

sensible long boy names that you can shorten

69 replies

sirlee66 · 19/01/2018 14:17

Hi everyone! I'm struggling. Mainly because I'm trying to achieve the impossible and we are very fussy.

Need a boy name that is.... Not common (I love Oliver so much but it's number 1 on the most popular boys list for 2018!!) We want a rare name.. where he will be the only one in the class with that name.

Sensible and as my nan likes to say 'a proper name' nothing like 'Blue' or 'North' (can't think of any other celeb baby names!)

Also our surname is 2 syllables starts with a 'D' and ends in the 'ee' sound. So a name like Danny won't work for us.

Also!!! We like long names that can be shortened eg. Theodore - Theo

DH hates Theodore plus it's on the top 20 UK baby names this year so that means its out :(

Any suggestions please help!

I can think of

Johnathan - Johnny - John
Matthew - Matt

But I don't actually like them! Haha! I LOVED Rupert but DH hates it and had vetoed it. I also loved Robert but that's out because of our surname (it would be the same as a famous actor!) Danngg!!

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SwinginFromTheChandelier · 19/01/2018 19:18

Edwin
Edgar
Wilfred
Reginald
Anthony
Timothy
Nicholas

Frouby · 19/01/2018 19:16

I have a Sebastian. Chosen because it's unusual but not out there and the nn is easy (seb).

I also have a Francesca for the same reasons (Frankie nn).

MrsBungle · 19/01/2018 19:15

Cameron (Cam)

Dancinggoat · 19/01/2018 19:14

Peter

MikeUniformMike · 19/01/2018 19:12

If you are going to shorten it, why not just use a short name.
e.g. Max instead of Maximilian
Tony instead of Anthony
Toby not Tobias
Theo not Theophilus

Some of the spellings on here are a bit dodgy (it's Jonathan, Horatio, Michael, Leopold etc ) and some names are likely to be more popular than you think (Sebastian etc).

FairfaxAikman · 19/01/2018 19:12

Alasdair
Alexander
Andrew
Thomas

Standardpubquizname · 19/01/2018 19:04

Maximilian
Solomon
Alistair
Christopher
Timothy
Francis
Jonathan

madeyemoodysmum · 19/01/2018 18:53

Robert

madeyemoodysmum · 19/01/2018 18:48

Nicolas
Nicoli

Micheal
Christopher
Andrew
Loepald
Horacio
William
Thomas
Presley
Joshua
Ashton
Fredrick
Alistair
Alexander
Stuart
Anthony

CormoranStrike · 19/01/2018 18:40

Patrick
Sebastian
Gregory
Matthew

reup · 19/01/2018 18:40

That’s meant to be Xander.

reup · 19/01/2018 18:39

Alexander (Alex, Alec, Sandy, Xan, Cander, Lexi)

userabcname · 19/01/2018 18:37

I know someone with an Isambard nn Sam which is quite cool.

Hotpinkangel19 · 19/01/2018 18:30

My Oliver is the only Oliver in his year at school despite being a top 10 name!

Sugarpiehoneyeye · 19/01/2018 18:17

Kristian/Kit
Conrad/Rad
Nicholas/Nick/Nico
Marcus/Mac

Chrisinthemorning · 19/01/2018 17:57

Nicholas- Nick/ Nicky
Hardly any around

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 19/01/2018 17:55

Christopher. We have one, and only one, in the HUGE school I work in... Great nicknames too; Chris, Kit, Christy, Topher, Toff

FullDisclosure: I'm biased because I have a (much older) Christopher myself

user1471598162 · 19/01/2018 17:53

Nathaniel (Nate) and Sebastian (Seb) were on our list

GlorianaBanana · 19/01/2018 17:48

Cuthbert
Donovan
Donald
Ronald
Martin
Desmond
Richard

EvilCleverDog · 19/01/2018 16:42

Interesting to see people saying Leonard - i have a baby Leonard (Lenny) - please don’t make it popular 😂😂😭

Awwlookatmybabyspider · 19/01/2018 16:39

Alexander (Alex Zander)
Edward (Ted, Ned and Eddie)
Daniel (Dan)
Gabriel (Gabe)
Benjamin (Ben)
Thomas ( Tom)
Frederick (Fred Ricky Derry)
Douglas (Dougie)
Benedict (Ben, Ned)

pipilangstrumpf · 19/01/2018 15:42

I do think lists are very helpful. By avoiding a name that is already in the top 100 you're massively reducing the probability that the name will be duplicated. No guarantees but less likely.

How about

Christopher
Darius
Quentin
Marcus
Leonard

Original poster
sirlee66 · 19/01/2018 15:09

Oh cathf what are their names in so intrigued!!

OP posts:
cathf · 19/01/2018 14:58

Your criteria is exactly the same as ours was.
I wanted the child to have a name everyone had heard of, but not so popular he would end up being Jack P or Oliver M at school. I wanted him to be the only one in his school with the name.
We went through name books and drew up a list of names we liked, then had a really good think if we knew of anyone at all, regardless of age, with that name.
It worked for us -all of my children went through primary school as the only one with their name, ds1 had one other with the name in senior school (1300 boys), dd has only one other (her best friend!) with her name, and we don't know about ds2 yet, as he is still at primary.

Original poster
sirlee66 · 19/01/2018 14:53

Some really great suggestions!!

Thanks so much everyone!

You are right, I need to stop worrying about top ten lists etc and not exclude a name just because it's on there!

Like a PP said, I could have a rare unique name and then find there's 3others with Thai same name in his class anyway!!

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