Help protect children from gaming harms.

Take our survey

Please or to access all these features

Baby names

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

Boy name help please

56 replies

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 11:52

DH and I have very different taste in boy names and are struggling. I can't tell you how many lists of names I have read but I'm hoping somebody might think of one I haven't seen.

DHs taste includes names like: Jonathan, Charles, Jensen. He likes traditional names (I know Jensen isn't traditional).
My taste includes things like: Cyrus, Atlas, Atticus. I like unusual names.

We did briefly agree on Harrison but have gone off that since. Enzo is still on the table but it doesn't feel right.

Equally unhelpful is our family's faces whenever we mention names that we are considering (just say "that's a nice name" ffs?! Don't say nothing at all whilst putting on the fakest smile I have ever seen) as if we manage to agree on one then one of us gets put off by reactions.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
DuchessOfSausage · 17/06/2023 12:55

So what if the other child makes suggestions too and gets involved. That's really nice. If you like their suggestions that's great.
The younger sibling had no say in the first child's name. There was a thread recently where a little boy suggested Jizzabella as a name for his sister.Smile
There's the power balance in sibling relationships - DC1 will have been an only child until DC2, whereas DC2 will not.

Hadtocomment · 17/06/2023 11:18

I wonder if you just need a proper discussion with your DH about why he is so intransigent. Is it that he really wants Jonathan because it has personal meaning and associations in which case you might be able to chat that through and find an alternative with similar associations. Or is it that he is very concerned about his child having a name that doesn't invite attention or teasing or something? Perhaps it's something to do with when he was at school and the fear of sticking out in any way. In which case you can maybe chat that through as probably what seems like an older safer choice might stick out more these days as the conventional names for this generation are going to be a different set and his realising this might calm him down a bit.

Whatever it is, seems like you need to get to the bottom of what his general objection is to the names you like and why you can't find a compromise as a lot of the names you have suggested it seems aren't that way out. If he ends up with a name he likes but doesn't love and so do you perhaps you need to point out that this is a fair compromise? Having a very fixed idea in your head of THE name you always wanted to call someone perhaps isn't always a good thing anyway as the child will become their own person and so, to some extent, letting go of fixed past ideas of what they must be called maybe acknowledges that a bit more and embraces reality.

I also don't see at all why your other child can't have a say. People on here are so prescriptive. So what if the other child makes suggestions too and gets involved. That's really nice. If you like their suggestions that's great. If not, don't use them or maybe have one as a middle name. I was named by my sibling and I really like my name. Much better than the ones my parents would have chosen for me!

febbabies2023 · 15/06/2023 09:35

I'll be absolutely no help here but I feel your pain! When I was pregnant with our son we couldn't agree on any names it was so hard! My taste is very much like yours. I loveeeee Atlas, Hadley is another name I like.
We ended up with Hudson James in the end which I still love now

I hope you find a name you both love 🤍

user1492757084 · 15/06/2023 09:29

How about these tyraditional names that are not that over used right now ....
Cedric
Hector
David
Ivor
Christopher
Scott
Leon
Peter
Wilbur
Dougal
Stirling
Adam
Xavier
Wallace
Angus

NBLarsen · 14/06/2023 20:52

What's your daughter's name? That might help people work out what sort/style of name you and DH compromised on and then maybe we can suggest more.

bridgetreilly · 14/06/2023 20:48

Hereward
Edgar
Gus
Fitz
Felix

MeMeMeYou · 14/06/2023 20:47

The names you like are pretty popular. If you're after unusual you'd be better going with your husbands taste tbh!

MyTruthIsOut · 14/06/2023 20:47

Me and my DH were struggling to come up with a name for our first son and there was nothing we were both as equally keen on. In the end I met my husband choose the name and even though I wasn’t keen for a good few months I then grew to love it and I love it even more now! (He’s nine years old).

Incidentally, my husband chose the name for our second son too as I really didn’t feel strongly about any name.

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 20:43

Let the sibling choose from the list after the two vetoes

I think we might have to do this as DH is being very 'indifferent' to every name I suggest and I have probably now suggested well over 25/30 names. He likes the ones I have suggested from this thread but not enough to call a child it. He keeps saying I named our daughter so he should name this one, I'm not sure how short his memory is but we both picked her name. And even if that was reasonable, he should pick from a joint short list, not pick a name I've said I don't like at all.

OP posts:
TrustPenguins · 14/06/2023 18:55

Nathan / Nathaniel/ Nate
Rowan
Theo / Theodore
Justin
Owen
Christian
Marcus
Luke
Jared
Quinn
Rafferty / Raff
Zachary / Zach
Leon

octoberfarm · 14/06/2023 18:48

Miles
Benjamin
Jack
Xavier
William
Leo
Oliver
Thomas
William
Tobin
Casper
Liam
Theodore
Asher
Elijah
Matteo
Mason

TrashyPanda · 14/06/2023 17:44

Micah
Gregor
Mungo
Columba

Lululoop · 14/06/2023 17:38

Let the sibling choose from the list after the two vetoes

Riverlee · 14/06/2023 16:32

So you need a less common, traditional name?

Josiah
Barnabus
Ranulph
Digby
Caspian
Nathaniel
Montgomery
Diggory
Bruno
Fenton
Cornelius
Gilbert
Ernest
Lawrence
Connor
Leopold
Balthazar
Garett

Mumofgirls2017 · 14/06/2023 16:23

victor
otis
spencer
griffin
magnus
silas
cosmo
caspian
rex
ludo
apollo
quinn
torin
casper
otto
orson
stellan
evander
elio
vincent
rafe
rufus
rudy
lucian
loki
leonidas

LittleChicken11 · 14/06/2023 15:46

Silas
Emil(e)
Joel
Elliot
Nathaniel
Daniel

MrsSamR · 14/06/2023 15:36

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 15:12

Ooh let us know what he thinks and what you decide on!

I will do! I will be gutted if he doesn't love the one I love!

Fingers crossed he does @georgianwindow!

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 15:12

Ooh let us know what he thinks and what you decide on!

I will do! I will be gutted if he doesn't love the one I love!

OP posts:
MrsSamR · 14/06/2023 15:11

Ooh let us know what he thinks and what you decide on!

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 15:07

I appreciate your thoughts on that but we aren't letting our daughter name the baby, we are just talking to her about baby and who they are going to be. You may have not done it this way yourselves but that is the way that we would like to discuss it with her. There is an age gap between them so she is old enough to understand.

Thank you for all of your name suggestions too, I have fired a few over to DH and am waiting for him to eventually reply! I really love one of the names that has been suggested here so I'm hoping he likes it too...

OP posts:
MyTruthIsOut · 14/06/2023 14:47

Aaron?

Or any of the other possible ways of spelling it depending on how you want it pronounced?

And as another poster said, “Louis” and “Louie” are so common these days, but I agree that Lewis isn’t heard so much these days and is actually a really lovey name.

DuchessOfSausage · 14/06/2023 14:46

I think that if a sibling is involved the baby will get named after their best friend that week or a cartoon character or something.

I don't think young children need to know about their soon-to-be sibling until fairly close to the birth as time is much longer when you're little.

Mine were close in age so DC2 would have been named Babba Grin

RoseDeWittBukatter · 14/06/2023 14:39

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 14:32

It's the parents' decision what a child is called, not the sibling's.

No, but we think it's easier for a young child to adjust to the idea of having a sibling if they feel involved in as much as possible, that includes knowing what they might be called, so that the sibling has more of an identity and isn't just a concept.

Would that not be confusing for a small child to be told what their sibling might be called? Then to be called something completely different?

georgianwindow · 14/06/2023 14:32

It's the parents' decision what a child is called, not the sibling's.

No, but we think it's easier for a young child to adjust to the idea of having a sibling if they feel involved in as much as possible, that includes knowing what they might be called, so that the sibling has more of an identity and isn't just a concept.

OP posts:
DuchessOfSausage · 14/06/2023 14:15

Because our eldest gets excited and tells people, and we want her to feel as involved in this as possible so don't want to keep it a secret from her

It's the parents' decision what a child is called, not the sibling's.