Finally agreed on a name! Help please...

OP it's your baby but Rhodes is not a great name by by any measure. The child will get the road jokes, the rose misspelling and the general it's a surname comments. Plus probably abbreviated to Ro which is awful. So I'd definitely keep it as a second name.

It’s a bit wanky.

@Rhubarbx1 I don't know if you are still reading but you said that the meaning of Rhodes was important to you. I am sorry but I think you have been misinformed. I cannot find any reputable source to corroborate the meaning of 'where the roses grow' beyond the usual poorly-researched American name sites. Use it if you like but please don't use it because of an incorrect meaning.

I also think of Cecil Rhodes

But isn’t Elias derived from Helios? If so, and Helios had a wife called Rhodes, you can’t use it for his brother…

Elias Grey is a beautiful name.
I think Benjamin Rhodes goes better stylistically than Rhodes Benjamin.
I also, I'm afraid, think that people will think of Cecil Rhodes. It was my first thought (and I'd completely forgotten about the Greek island).
I don't think it's unusable but I think it will raise a lot of eyebrows and that people will assume some white supremacist views.
I'm sorry but I think it's the case.
I think there are similar sounding, unusual biblical names that would be less problematic - how about Boaz? Or Judah, Asa, Abel?

Benjamin is a fabulous name that goes beautifully with Elias (which I also love).

Sadly all the negative thoughts listed so far sprung to my mind regarding Rhodes. I then started singing “Country Roads”. Nice bit of John Denver.

I like Rhodes and Elijah

Could also have Rourke

Benjamin is fine as a middlename... Nice and safe

I instantly thought Cecil Rhodes and the row about his statue on Oriel College in Oxford. Honestly, why would you inflict that on someone for a lifetime just because you think it's a funky name? Plus he'll have to spell it out all the time. Your poor child.

I love the name Rhodes! As a first name and as a middle name:) Elias Gray is also gorgeous, and I think Elias & Rhodes sound great together.

some combos you may like:

Rhodes Matthew
Rhodes Morgan
Rhodes Everett
Rhodes Evan
Rhodes Alexander
Rhodes Asa

Asa Rhodes
Jesse Rhodes
Bellamy Rhodes
Neil Rhodes

Ethan Ezra
Asher Davis
Gideon Isaac
Nathaniel Micah
Shiloh Reid

Rhodes does not mean "where the roses grow". These baby name websites honestly seem to make up meanings from whole cloth.

"Greek island, largest of the Dodecanese, from Greek Rhodos, which is perhaps from rhodon "rose," which Beekes allows as a possibility, or rhoia "pomegranate," but "more likely" [Room] from a pre-Greek name, from Phoenician erod "snake," for the serpents which were said to have anciently infested the island."

Not that "snake" is a bad meaning for a name, but do rethink the botanical meaning.

Rhode Island more likely comes from the Dutch for red, roodt.

"No-one apart from you is going to think of the 'meaning'."

Particularly as it doesn't appear to mean what you think it means....

Stylistically Rhodes matches Grey. It doesn’t match Elias at all. To match Elias I would use an Old Testament style name. (Noah, Adam, Saul, Asher, Ezra, Joseph, Daniel, Jacob, David, Malachi, Levi).

However it depends how important matching is to you. I wasn’t all that bothered - I avoided “Molly and Polly” and “Billy and Tilly” but I went for names I actually liked. Kids are only a sibling pair for their childhood - I haven’t been part of “Lucy and Fred” for over 20 years now.

I dislike using where the child was conceived as their name - firstly because it is a bit “all about me” and secondly because as a mum of a teenager I do not have the words to describe their horror of their parents having sex!

I did also think of Cecil Rhodes when you first said the name and it would make me wonder about your beliefs!

This.

No-one apart from you is going to think of the 'meaning'.
Some people will "hear" roads and be very confused. I suspect most people will think of the Greek Island, and ask why he is named after a Greek Island.
Try walking around introducing yourself as Kos or Rhodes for a few weeks and see how tiresome it gets.

I mean, if you use it for a middle name he will still get it, but probably not every time he has to give his name.

This is from a site called The Bump and makes no sense! Meaning “where roses grow,” Rhodes can be a beautiful way to describe your new rosy-cheeked baby. Derived from the Old English surname Rhoades and the word rod—meaning ”clearing in the woods”—Rhodes conjures images of enchanting forests, fields, and gardens.

It doesn't matter that the Cecil Rhodes connection wasn't uppermost in your minds. You're not going to get the chance to explain to most people reading or seeing the name that you consider it a nature name with a positive meaning for you, and I'm afraid they are going to draw their own conclusions.

my first thought would be the Greek island and assume he was conceived there or you got married there.. sorry

Benjamin Rhodes Eaton is far better than the other way round.

Benjamin also goes far better with Elias than Rhodes does.

I think Ezra Rhodes sounds nice.

I hated having a name I had to constantly repeat and spell out to people that I changed it.
The names you've chosen do sound nice together though.

Cecil Rhodes was my first thought… Rhodes must fall. I’d assume you were racists.

Benjamin and Elias is a lovely combo.

I do think Rhodes Eaton sounds lovely. He sounds like a handsome academic :-D

I'm curious for your source for this, OP.

Depending on your source the island is named for the sea-nymph Rhode or the goddess Rhodes, wife of Helios, or possibly a Phoenician word for 'snake'.

The surname comes from Old English 'rod', meaning 'clearing in the woods'.

I think Benjamin Rhodes is much nicer. And goes better with Elias .Than using Rhodes as a first name.

Rhodes Eaton...roads eaten. I can't unhear it I'm afraid.

Such a shame you don't like Benjamin. Elias and Benjamin are a lovely sibling pair.

My first reaction to that as a name was not the island but 'that was some infamous racist wasn't it?'.

So first impressions not ideal.

But if I met Rhodes I'm sure would get over it (I know a very sweet little girl called Melania, it had Trump connotations for me, but I got over it).

Just take him to Rhodes at some point so he knows it's an awesome place and quickly dispel any 'infamous racist' vibes.