Baby Boys Name: Leo, Rory or Joshua?

There are a lot of teen and twenty-something Joshuas around so it feels quite dated to me. A 2021 Joshua will always be 15-20 years too young for his name.

Leo then Rory for me but do note that both are on the way up and could still become much more popular if that’s a consideration for you.

I have a Leo. Love it obviously but there are loads of them now under 5. I suspect it will go out of fashion at some point.

Joshua is a bit dull but probably less likely to date as more classic.

Love Rory.

Rory or Leo.
Joshua is very dated. I know several born in the early-mid 1990s.

Joshua is gorgeous

Joshua is definitely my favourite,shortened to Josh.

All are nice but Leo is my favourite (I’m biased though as I have one ). It is obviously quite popular but our Leo is the only one in his year at school.

Rory was on my shortlist for DC2 had she been a boy- I haven’t met any little Rory’s for a while but hear it’s on the rise.

I do like Joshua, but it was the name I wanted to call my hypothetical son when I was much younger so it feels a little more dated to me. To be honest though they are all good names so you can’t really go wrong.

Love all three from your list, can see why you’re struggling! At a push I’d say Leo.

I only like Rory

Agree Jelly. Also - some names are very common in some parts of the UK, others less do. Rory is very popular here in Scotland for example, Leo and Joshua much less so.

I did laugh a bit when my friend and her wanker of a partner gave their baby a very Spanish name in an attempt to be unique (neither of them have any connections to the country) only to find a Spanish boy in the same primary class with exactly the same name! They were the only 2 children in the class with the same (very unusual) names.

Also, if no one can tell, my personal bugbear with all name popularity discussion when someone will say "X name is super popular, and Y name isn't" when they are just going off their own experience and the opposite is actually true.

Just because I have met two babies called Orlando in the last 3 years and only 1 Oliver ever this does not make Orlando more popular than Oliver!

Leo

Very biased as we have very similar taste and actually named our newborn Rory! All three of these were on my list, although DH didn't want Joshua or Leo.

A previous poster said Rory is really common. R names are "in" at the moment, but Rory was only 47th in the UK in 2019 in the Office of National Statistics data (Leo was 5th and Joshua was 20th). Even then, it's important to remember that names are different to when we were growing up and there were 4 Thomas or Sarah's in each class. Much more variety in names so something that is 5th most popular these days may be only 3,000 boys that year, whereas in the 80s and 90s it would've been more like 10,000 boys that year.

Primary school teacher here!

I like Leo or Rory. Joshua is fine... but a bit overdone. There's always one in every class. I've met a couple of Leos in recent years, but not many. And I can't remember when I last met a Rory.

Rory! I think it's lovely.

I have a Joshua and my sister has a Leo.

Like those best, but Joshua for me as I think it is a classic name and Josh is a good nn.

Don't like Rory.

I know so many adults Rorys that it doesn't seem trendy to me. All the Josh/uas I know are teens and kids.

@SBC0511 Rory is not "a bit different" anymore - it's one of the fastest rising boys names and i know loads. I know way more baby Rory's than I know baby Joshua/Josh and that is reflected in the statistics given the number of Joshuas has been falling each and every year for the past 20 years whereas Rory has boomed, still rising , and just feels really trendy and overdone now

I like Joshua and Josh best

Funnily enough i know only know 2 child Leos and zero child Rorys! I know lots of child Joshuas. Know one adult Rory and two adult Leos and the three of them are awesome so I love those names!

I like Joshua the best. Leo feels a bit incomplete. I know a Rory and he's a bit wet so that puts me off the name

I have a Rory, never had anyone have any trouble with pronunciation. He’s a teen now so plenty of time for one to have cropped up but everyone seems to have managed. Honestly I don’t think you can base your kids names on things like ‘some randoms might not be able to say their name properly’.

Ooh I love Joshua!
Hate Rory, there are so many and I struggle with the Rs

Always disliked Joshua, Leo I've never seen as a proper name. I love Rory

Can't go wrong, I like all three.

I agree that you can't predict what sounds someone could have trouble with. Sometimes it's R, sometimes TH, sometimes S. I don't know anyone who struggles with R as an adult.

Leo! (Biased as we have one).

We thought about Leon but I was worried the pronunciation was ambiguous (it's French too which would be Lay-on).