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Baby names

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

Soft names for a boy

79 replies

ibis17 · 05/10/2022 13:11

Hello,

My partner and I are expecting a baby boy, but really struggling to bond with a name. For some reason we have a long list of girls names we love but it feels harder with a boy. We want something unusual, but not something that might sound too out there or put him in a line of fire re bullying. We prefer the softer sounding names that are less traditionally 'male' and like the idea of a name that is linked to nature (although this isn't essential at all). Our top name for a girl was Alba, and we love Albie and Alban, but already have friends who have used these for their children so need to avoid copying... We have a daughter who is Elinor.

Some boy ideas so far are:
Espen
Albur
Alben/ Albin
Rowan
Oskar

But if anyone feels like brainstorming further... I would love to hear alternative ideas :-)

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Coconutcream123 · 29/10/2022 20:12

Arlo
Miles
Tobi (Tobias)

caroleanboneparte · 29/10/2022 19:53

End it in a vowel sound, they tend to be softer boys names.

Luca
Noah
Bailey
Arlo
Milo
Benny
Quinn
Ray
Flynn
Finlay
Roman
Louie
Dana
Devon
Tay
Cary
Corey
Casey
Cody
Cole
Mika
Noel
Nicky
Micky
Robbie
Ash/ley
Lesley
Lindsay
Shane
Jerry
Perry
Oisin
Ruari

dream28 · 29/10/2022 19:45

Cedric
Harley
Lucius
Desmond
Edmund

ibis17 · 29/10/2022 19:03

Just caught up with the rest of these. Amazing choices, thank you!

and thank you to those who pointed out that Oskar is a fairly common European alternative to Oscar… also I don’t think ‘unique’ is really a category where we live - very multicultural north London, so schools have every name and spelling combo you can think of. I’m also an English teacher so spelling is a big part of liking a name for me… I love the ‘k’ in Oskar. 🙂

a friend has an Alban already otherwise that would have definitely been on our list. The same with Albie.

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Leemoe · 09/10/2022 00:22

I know an Eden who is about nineteen. Always loved his name but, perhaps oddly I tend to think its a bit low class when used as a girls name.

Also how about Ashley, Xavier, Sasha (Alexander), Jago, Paris, Michael, Uriel, Christian.

dontyouwishyourgirlfriendwas · 09/10/2022 00:18

Prefer Alban to Albin/ Alben

Some other names

Keaton
Gideon
Soren
Ethan
Conan

Stonebridge · 09/10/2022 00:13

...sorry that was in response to @BumbleUnicorn

Stonebridge · 09/10/2022 00:12

Arbor is from Latin.
Crann is the Irish for tree

nelliebear8 · 07/10/2022 18:17

Wilbur
Cosmo
Casper
Callum
Julian
Douglas
Ernest
Jasper
Raphael

YankeeCat · 07/10/2022 17:56

People have already mentioned a lot of what I would suggest. There is also Sean, Ethan, Lucas, Arthur

LittleBoPeepHasLostHerShit · 07/10/2022 16:26

I love Oskar which is the Scandinavian version of Oscar

Exactly. Perfectly valid spelling.

LittleBoPeepHasLostHerShit · 07/10/2022 16:25

I once met a lovely little curly haired boy called Jem or Gem. Not sure if it was short for something, but it sounded sweet and soft just like this little boy!

My other favourite boys name is Lysander.

Rainbowcat99 · 07/10/2022 16:15

I love Oskar which is the Scandinavian version of Oscar rather than a "yoonique" spelling. Not sure if people commenting are aware of that.

My favourite soft/gentle boys names:
Luca
Otis
Oliver
Gabriel
Theodore
Alexander
Dylan

GlassDeli · 07/10/2022 15:57

Reuben
Andrew
Milo
Simon
Austin
Thomas
Dylan
Wilson
Corin
Raymond
Ellis
Niall
Ivor
Harley
Leo
Maurice
Philip
Vincent
Ciaran
Lawrence
George

ibis17 · 07/10/2022 15:39

Some great suggestions, thank you!! Lots to think about.

We live in a very multicultural area so spellings aren’t an issue… I teach at a school locally and most of my kids have names spelt every way imaginable 😊 We are more concerned about avoiding the more traditionally private school English names (as much as we love a lot of them) as in my experience these can become targets for bullying/ standing out.

I love Arlie. And to hear of some other Albin’s 😊😊

OP posts:
TomBradysLeftKneecap · 05/10/2022 23:26

At risk of being outed as it was rare at the time but I have a 25 yo Arlie and both him and I still love his name.

caroleanboneparte · 05/10/2022 23:24

Devon
Fabian
Quinn
Cass
Beau
Monty
Ash/Ashley
Evan
Bay
Micky
Pat
Oisin
Owen
Ocean
Orson
Orville
Dara
Cole
Jasper
Casper
Ray
Nemo
Mel
Jonah
Jojo
Corey
Casey
Finlay
Benny
Manny

Happenchance · 05/10/2022 23:22

Ardal
Briar
Nils
Warren
Lev
Conleth
Niles
Lief
Gus
Ivan
Ewan
Ivo

MassiveSalad22 · 05/10/2022 22:38

oh yes Robin is great!

MassiveSalad22 · 05/10/2022 22:37

Ooh lots of these on our lists. Our boys names have been said on this thread. Our lists off the top of my head included:

ambrose
acer
asher
aubrey
joel
joss
alder
evan
oscar
rowan
Otis
lawrence

BlueKaftan · 05/10/2022 22:36

Hugh

FunnysInLaJardin · 05/10/2022 22:33

I have a Fabian and a Rafe. I also love Florian and work with the most delightful man called Robin, so would absolutely second that!

AssignedSlytherinAtBirth · 05/10/2022 22:27

Robin
Falcon
Merlin

yoshiblue · 05/10/2022 22:26

Florian