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Baby names

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

Original poster

Classic boys names - Alex or James?

65 replies

Anonymouslyposting · 14/01/2023 15:34

We are due to have a baby boy next week and we are so stuck on names. Current top two are James and Alexander (would be called Alex) but while I like both names I don’t love them - William and Thomas (would be Tom) are also possibilities. We would have gone with George but it’s my nephew’s name.

Any ideas? We had a list of about 10 names we loved with DD but for some reason boys names seem much harder!

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ChildrenOfTheQuorn · 14/01/2023 17:58

Alexander because there are plenty of James' around.

PurBal · 14/01/2023 17:58

@NewyearNewStartnomorejunk Jamie isn’t a shortened version of James though, it’s two syllables, James is one.

@Anonymouslyposting these two names are contenders for us too. Also considering Robert. I slightly prefer James because we don’t use nn (we may do in the future but DC1 currently goes by his full, two syllable name) and Alexander is long.

KirstenBlest · 14/01/2023 17:54

James. It depends on your surname though.
Look at other classic names, not just ones that are current.
I like Michael, Peter, Philip, Andrew, John, Jonathan, Paul, Anthony, etc

Strugglingtodomybest · 14/01/2023 17:49

I like them all apart from George (unless it's for a girl, for some reason I love George for a girl). If I had to pick, I'd go for Will or Tom.

Lampzade · 14/01/2023 17:48

Alexander

Rauha · 14/01/2023 17:48

James

NewyearNewStartnomorejunk · 14/01/2023 17:47

I like James because Jamie is a nicer short name than Alex

AuntieStella · 14/01/2023 17:45

I think Alexander, James and George are all lovely names. Slightly less keen on Tom. Have you thought about shortening Alexander a different way - it's got loads of nn potential (which I think is useful): Alex, Al, Xander, Xan, Sandy, Sasha

You say you haven't found a name you love yet, so here are some further ideas:
Rupert, Benedict, Ferdinand, Lysander, Jonathan, Mark, Marcus, Edward, Edmond

Mittens1717 · 14/01/2023 17:36

James for me, also like Tom but not Thomas

Shampern · 14/01/2023 16:22

You can't go wrong with James in my opinion

Raspberry290 · 14/01/2023 16:05

James is a lovely name

LuckyLuckyWoman · 14/01/2023 16:02

James for me

CastleTower · 14/01/2023 15:59

Love both, but I would go for Alexander.

Mistonthemountains · 14/01/2023 15:36

Also Billy is cute?

Mistonthemountains · 14/01/2023 15:36

I have a James and I love it. Also considered John (known as Jack) or Joseph?