Are these TOO standard?

I love traditional names & really like James & Edward. I quite like Charlie, but associate it with boys who can be a bit naughty (I’m a teacher). If I ever had a son, I’d call him Adam or James.

OP, I like all the names you’ve mentioned.

They may be thought of as standard, conventional names, but I think it’s good to remember that these days, there’s such a wide range of names used that even the top 10 names aren’t really shared by that many children born in that year.

The darkgreener site mentioned above is great for checking out name popularity trends.

Edmund may well have risen in popularity between 2016 and now, but given it was ranked 691st in 2016, it would take an improbably meteoric rise in popularity to get it anywhere near “very popular” levels.

There are lots of real classics that are slightly less common - I love Jonathan, for example. Jon is such a nice gentle short form.

2016 is not now though is it.

Edmund is very popular right now.

You won’t get any points for originality

. No one gets points for originality in names.

And I say this as someone with a lovely but unusual name who gave her children lovely but unusual names.

NB: they are actual names, with standard spellings used, they are just all very old, regional and not used much.

To echo pps classic names are classic for good reasons: everyone likes them and they get used over and over.

My D.C. have classic middle names as an alternative just in case they didn’t like their first names.

Your list are all super names. My favourite is James.

I’m Scottish so I know quite a few little Jamie’s. I think it works well for both children and adults.

I suspect some people might regret using unusual names but I don’t think many people regret using a nice traditional name.

Nothing wrong with your choices

I love James despite its popularity

There are a lot more names in circulation now than there were 40 years ago so using a top 10 name isn't quite the same as it was in the 1970s when David, Chris, Andrew, Sarah, Nicola & Joanne accounted for about 50% of school children!

Richard
John
Gregory
Philip
Martin

Edmund is now hugely common.

Not really. It was 691st in England and Wales in 2016, equating to 50 babies.

I love Edward, it's classic but with a few options to shorten if that's your/his thing.

Yes actually I always thought of James as a popular name, but thinking about it it’s more popular for people my age - I know no baby Jameses. I do know a 6 month old David which is adorable, and he gets Davey at the mo which is cute too.

Anthony.

Edmund is now hugely common. As is Henry. Charlie (not Charles, Charlie on birth certificate) is also very common. In fact Charlie rather than Charles is so common now people won’t assume Charlie is a nickname, if you see want I mean. So bear that in mind if you don’t want him having a life of saying oh no my name actually is...

Amongst the babies I know I’d say James is the least common as a first name though still a popular choice for middle. So I’d go James from your list if I was looking for classic but not hugely popular.

Someone else mentioned Bernard. I love Bernard!

I love Edward.

You can't go wrong with such classic names!

If you're after other ideas though...

Luke
Gregory
Oliver
Isaac
Andrew
Lawrence
Julian
Robin
Felix
Albert
Vincent
Aaron
Alexander
Nathaniel
Alistair
Jacob
Reuben
Tristan
Leo
Saul

Classic names are used a lot because they're good

In the modern online world there's a lot to be said for a popular name. Google my name and you get millions of irrelevant results. You need to add very unusual search terms before you can be sure you've got me.

Edwin?

They're often used for a reason, classic and nice. I like all of them except George, which is a bit solid and just screams baby prince to me.

I'd go for Edward due to the tons of nickname options, or Charles, which is actually a lot less common than the others (check out names.darkgreener.com/ to see stats, it's great for seeing just how popular your name is!). Do any of these have a strong meaning for you? I'd choose any that do.

Otherwise there are other traditional names that are slightly less popular, like
Nicholas
Jonathan
Simon
Hugh / Hugo
Arthur
Alfred

They are all fine!
Maybe you could branch out to
Sebastian
Miles
Edmund
Theodore
Alistair
Christian
Guy

Edmund seems to fit in with your tastes but is a bit less common so may be an option.

They are all really nice, classic names. I think any one of them would be fine.

I'd put slightly less common names like Alan, Carl, Christopher, Guy, Hugh, John, Paul, Robin and Simon in the same sort of bracket in case your list is still open.

Similar names but less monarchical would be the Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Peter, Thomas, David from the Biblical set, also Michael, Gabriel, Andrew. Then no particular category but standard and easy to spell like Martin, Michael, Alexander, Bernard, Patrick, Robert... None of them my absolute favourites but they fit your criteria.

I don’t think you can go wrong with any of those names, they’re great.

Collectively yes they are a bit dull but you're not naming four children, only one. If you call the baby James, your alternative shortlist could easily have been as exotic and unusual as you could imagine. So if you like Charles or whatever, that's just fine. Go for it.