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Baby names

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

Original poster

Names like Percy

81 replies

MonkeyBirdy · 30/06/2021 06:10

We're expecting a boy and I'm having such a hard time finding names I love. Like they're all ok but nothing really stands out. Then DH suggested Percy (with Percival on the birth certificate) and after an initial wtf reaction I think I really love it.

It has everything I like in a name - classic, not too common, nice to say, 2 syllables (so it fits with the rest of our names - I don't know why but this is a big deal for me).

I think it's due a comeback...

I know about Percy pigs. They're a nice sweet though! Plus we don't live in the UK and they're not really a thing here.

Is Percy really that awful? If you think so can you suggest some similar names.. he'll hopefully end up going to a posh school unless we have some financial catastrophe so I'm not concerned about the name being too public school.

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ColonelPine · 30/06/2021 19:43

Great list of better alternatives from @ButterflyOfFreedom there!

whattodo2019 · 30/06/2021 19:38

Stanley - Stan
Cedric
Miles
Hugh - Huwie
Albert - Bertie
Alfred - Fred/ Freddie/Alf
Hector
Ernest

TheSunShinesBrighter · 30/06/2021 19:33

Stanley has made a comeback

Crikey. Has it?
I work in a high school and am yet to come across a Stanley.

SeanChailleach
A friend of mine named her son Percy. I thought it was a bit brave. He is ten years old and has already changed his name.

Maybe those named Stanley round here did the same before they got to high school...

SeanChailleach · 30/06/2021 19:10

A friend of mine named her son Percy. I thought it was a bit brave. He is ten years old and has already changed his name.
Curtis, Peter, Terence all seem similar sounds in some way - any good?

ozzyfroggy · 30/06/2021 19:04

I like old man names like Ernest or Stanley, but Percy ain't doing it for me. Reminds me of the evil Percy in the Green Mile.

toastofthetown · 30/06/2021 17:50

@TheSunShinesBrighter

Percival is in the same league as Cyril, Stanley, Bernard, Desmond, Horace and Earnest. There is a reason why they haven’t made a comeback!

Different generation perhaps but names like Lynda, Janice and Jeanette are similarly unpopular for babies...

Stanley has made a comeback. It was the 67th most popular name for boys in 2019 in England and Wales! Ernest is less popular but still 167 little Ernests at the last count - pretty big rise from 5 born in 1998.
TheSunShinesBrighter · 30/06/2021 17:21

Percival is in the same league as Cyril, Stanley, Bernard, Desmond, Horace and Earnest. There is a reason why they haven’t made a comeback!

Different generation perhaps but names like Lynda, Janice and Jeanette are similarly unpopular for babies...

Wowcherarestalkingme · 30/06/2021 16:40

Love the name Percy. DH didn’t like it though so we didn’t use it. If you like it, go for it.

adrianmolesmole · 30/06/2021 16:34

No! Horrible - worse than Stanley! It's a weak and wet name, conjures up images of snivelling boys who told tales in children's books! Or a snotty accountant type who looks down his nose at you through his pince nez. I must have read this type of character somewhere because that's my immediate association, sorry!

Original poster
MonkeyBirdy · 30/06/2021 15:45

@KIngsySpence

The problem with Percy is someone will point out its an abbreviation for Percival .
What's the problem with that?
OP posts:
PALONHAS · 30/06/2021 15:20

Peregrine - "Perry" or Ptolemy - "Tolly"?

mommybunny · 30/06/2021 15:18

One of my all-time favourite TV characters was named Percival/Percy - Admiral Percival Fitzwallace, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on The West Wing. He was played by John Amos, a large black man about as manly as you can get. People never called him Percy though, usually either Fitz if they knew him well or otherwise Mr Chairman. But he owned his Percy-ness and it really suited him.

Terrazzo · 30/06/2021 15:09

Also maybe Winston? There’s a Winnie in my son’s swim class.

These names are absolutely not my taste and appears that would be the case for half the people he meets if you go for one of them!

KIngsySpence · 30/06/2021 15:09

The problem with Percy is someone will point out its an abbreviation for Percival .

Terrazzo · 30/06/2021 15:07

Wilbur
Wilfred
Herbert/Herbie
Walter

fruitbrewhaha · 30/06/2021 15:06

I like it.
You could also like Peregrine, Perry.

ArsenicNLace · 30/06/2021 15:04

@IHaveBrilloHair

Christ alive no. I think it actually might make a comeback though, but will quickly go the way of Alfie/Freddie etc.
I don't think it will make any sort of comeback because it's an awful name. If it was going to it would been after the first Percy Jackson film which says a lot.

Also immediately thought of 'point Percy at the pot' and also Percy pig.

Twinkie01 · 30/06/2021 15:02

I think Percy is lovely. I don't think it will put girls off at all. I once worked with a v v shaggable Cedric and his name didn't put off any women at all, in fact his dad was a Sir so we called him Sir Shag a lot!

ScribblyBaller · 30/06/2021 14:41

@toastofthetown

Mumsnet really don't like Percy. You'll have lots of pig, penis and 'wet' comments on here. But if you look at the stats Percy has increased significantly and there were 128 Percys born at the last count. It wouldn't surprise me if Percy started to approach the top hundred in the next five or so years. So even if everyone else here says its dreadful for a variety of reasons, it's a name in moderate use so far from universal dislike.

Other two syllable names outside the top 200 you might like are:
Ambrose
Cedric
Francis
Gregor
Linus
Remy
Rufus
Stellan

I think if Percy was going to become really popular it would have done so already, as other names from that era like Stanley and Wilfred and Archie etc. have done. I think Percy will always be...polarising.
AntsMarching · 30/06/2021 14:39

I like Percy, but there was a TV show I watched (Scrubs) where the nickname for Percival was Perry, which I also liked. Would that be an option you'd consider?

ChaToilLeam · 30/06/2021 14:36

I’m sorry, it’s awful. There are a million better names out there.

ScribblyBaller · 30/06/2021 14:34

I think it's beyond awful. A truly terrible name.

AuntMasha · 30/06/2021 14:31

Percival, (Percy), Arthur, Lancelot, Tristan, Gawain, Vivienne, Elaine, etc were popular at a time when the Arthurian myths and legends were going through a popular revival in the late 19th century until the 1910s. I quite like Percy.

Cindie943811A · 30/06/2021 14:02

Percy was my dad’s name and he hated it and used his second name until he could get a dead poll to drop the name

MillionBells · 30/06/2021 13:18

@midsomermurderess

Who on earth uses 'point Percy at the porcelain?' Do these people live in the 1950s? It's a cute name, no different to all the other cute, little boy names.
Grin