Gilbert

Mr Gilbert (The Inbetweeners) is who I think of

Thanks everyone for your thoughts and insights on the name 'Gilbert.' @BeefyCakes Glad you think it's a lovely name - I don't know that particular Gilbert. Excellent thoughts @yikesanotherbooboo and glad you like Gil and Gilbert. It is true about there being a much wider variety of names for this generation. I know little boys/babies with names ranging from Avery to Elijah and from Finbar to Cyril and Opie!

I like Gil and Gilbert. I know one child called this and I think it is stylish and ahead of the curve but not made up or outlandish. Good connotations as far as I am concerned ,easy to spell etc. Good choice. I can't see it as a cause for bullying; the variety of names for this generation is huge so kids won't get bullied for having an unusual name quite as frequently. Of course some get bullied anyway .

notacooldad Thanks for your insights. I wouldn't have thought Gilbert would be a name to be bullied more than lots of other names? Perhaps the chap added to it by being uncomfortable with it?
I'm not sure, I think he got it in first about his name because he had years of sniggering. Also the guy isn't originally from the UK. He is from Ghana. Maybe it's a regular name over there I don't know.
The funny thing is we have senior professionals with names that are perceived ( and I hate this word but just quoting MN, ) ''chavvy' such as Tyrone, Wayne, Chantelle, Kayleigh etc and nobody says anything.

In my opinion they are just names that their parents liked!

Like Gilbert Grissom from CSI. I think it's a lovely name.

@sydonie1 Good name! Glad you do - I'm not sure why either, if not the snotty things I first mentioned. I guess it just hasn't caught on yet...@Sugarpiehoneyeye Yes we do too! So cute 😊

@BigusBumus Yep hubby did mention Rugby balls... I guess it depends if he's into Rugby or not!? Glad you think it might be cool! @notacooldad Thanks for your insights. I wouldn't have thought Gilbert would be a name to be bullied more than lots of other names? Perhaps the chap added to it by being uncomfortable with it? True @PatriarchyPersonified. But then you can get bullied for anything, even kids with perfectly ordinary names get picked on for something else or their more normal names turned into smg horrible. So many names have bullying potential if you really think about it! We have struggled on the Boy Name front. Not many we really like at all, and also don't want him to have the same name as 10 other boys in his class at school, only distinguished by their last names! However, perhaps that's preferable to being picked on for having a too unusual name...

Love Gilbie.

Aussiemouse we went for Daniel Jesse in the end. (Gilbert and Jesse were my favourites, but husband less keen). I adore Gilbert and also have no idea why it’s not more popular.

@BluthsFrozenBananas Ha yes one we were afraid of after our Gilbert googling turned up snotty green alien pics! Most people on here fortunately don't seem to have heard of him though? We hadn't. So I guess only ppl of a certain age and hopefully not smg passed down to the present generation! @MarthaArthur Yes not seen the film. Good or bad connections for Gilbert? Hadn't heard of the Artists but they serm very interesting upon Googling! @spookytime Ah glad you love it too 😊 I think Gil's quite a cool nickname. I suppose potentially fishy, but somehow doesn't sound like that!

My point of view would be that it might be ok, but why risk it?

I wouldn't want to saddle my children with names that will probably get them made fun of just because I like them.

There are plenty of names in the world for you to choose from that you can pretty much guarantee have no possibility of your child being mocked for, so why take the chance?

They are the ones that have to carry it for the rest of their lives, not you.

@notacooldad I think it's an unusual name in most places. Was the reason the workers thought it funny, because of any of the above lovely connections or simply because its unusual
Nobody mentioned the connections, they just thought it was a weird name but not in a good way. Even the guy himself didn't like it.
The young people that we work really took the piss out of him behind his back.

We work with multi agency teams and the people are froma very diverse background so we come across a lot of names. I can honestly say this is the only one that has been universally mocked by young people, parents and other professionals.

My POV is it's unusual and not one I would chose for my child but it's not that bad. The funny thing is that quite a few of these professionals have a mate called Gilly ( small town syndrome where everyone of a certain age knows everyone inthat age bracket!!h

Never heard of Green Gilbert, but the name Gilbert just makes me think of rugby balls. Not a bad name though, I think it could be quite cool.

Ooh and love Gil for short also.

Cool name.

Whats eating gilbert grape (gilbert played by johnny depp)

And george and gilbert (artists)

Love Gilbert. Never heard of the negative connections.

I think you have to be just the right age, but the snotty alien is the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the name Gilbert.

Great @sidonie1 Glad you love it too! What did you call youe son in the end? Perhaps Gilbert's one of those Marmite names. It seems to be not very popular (@ 800 and smg in the charts) but for me, names like Albert, which your friend called their child, which is in the top 100, seem just as old fashioned if not more, so not sure why really!? And yes heard about that Prince Albert thing when Prince Louis was on the way. I prefer the Gil sound to the Al sound though and like anything you can turn into Bertie 😊Also like Alfred and Walter which are both more popular than Gilbert, though also on the old fashioned spectrum!

I love the name Gilbert. I had it as a suggestion for my son when I was expecting him, and a friend said the child would get teased so much. The same friend went on to call his child Albert (Bertie). I was really surprised, as personally can’t see that Albert and Gilbert are that different, and Bertie is a great nn for both. I love the name Gilbert, and nn Gil too, being a massive AofGG fan also.

Never heard of the slang term. But Prince Albert slang is pretty bad, but Albert is still a popular choice.

I’d go for it!

Thanks for the input everyone. Good to know most of you don't think the snot/alien connection would follow anyway. Yes it is old fashioned, but as has been said that's quite in now, with all the Alfies, Rafes, Wilfreds and Arthurs etc so shouldn't stand out too much in the old man name way in a classroom. And yes it probably does depend where you live and the kind of names children in the area have. There are so many very unusual names about now - more so then Gilbert I think 😊

I like Gil, but not Gilbert. It just sounds uncool to my ears, like Norman, Nigel, Norris.

But there are so many old men names being used now that he probably won't stand out in a class of Ralphs, Alberts, and Arthurs.

I think it depends where you live. In multicultural areas I've never heard of any child being teased over their name in school. Plus nn Bertie follows current fashions anyway.

I don't think many people would make the 'snot' connection to be honest.

It's just a very unusual and old fashioned sounding name, and children can be pretty cruel about things like that.

I have a friend whose grandfather was called Donald. He named his first son after him. All fine until he went to school, then the poor kid got tortured so much that he has ended up using his middle name since the age of 8.

Gilbert is far more unusual and old fashioned than Donald.