Finally agreed on a name! Help please...

Clearly you are far superior to the rest of us. Would you care to impart your wisdom?

Would your husband like to be called Rhodes? Would you?
Poor child..............

Some people on here need to actually learn a little more before trying to talk about history they clearly don’t understand.

Don’t be shy, go the whole hog and call him Zakynthos. Zak for short

Says the pot to the kettle.

I don't think Elias and Rhodes are "stylistically coherent" at all. One is a classic biblical name and one, er, isn't. If you're set on Rhodes, I think it works better as a middle name.

Potential issues with spelling is a red herring TBH. Think of the varieties of some traditional names like Catherine for example!

I agree. It's all so Insta worthy all this matching.

Call your baby what you like. Rhodes is unusual (personally I worked in Faliraki in the 90s, so it's not for me, but obviously you like it), but so are many other names.

Good luck with the birth.

me to. poor kid. With the surname, I would hear it as "rose eaten". And the Cecil Rhodes connection is pretty awful.

Also- I don't think the only person called Rhodes anybody would have heard of is someone you'd want to be associated with....

Sorry but I think this is awful. It’s just a random noun, no more a name for a human than Radiator, Lanzarote or Greyhound are.

Rhodes is definitely a middle name... If you must at all, that is.

People are so weird about names on here. "Oh he'll forever be telling people how to spell it" WHY?! How often do you really need people to know how to spell your name in day to day conversation?

And realistically it doesn't matter how simple your name is, people are thick and will get it wrong even if it's written right in front of them. I can't tell you how many work emails I've had saying "Good Morning Sarah/Rachel/Charlotte" when that's not even close to my very boring, normal, easy to spell name. Or spelling it wrong when it's right there in my signature, or I've already told them how to spell it. Or calling me sir when it's a very very feminine name. Colleague of mine has a very ordinary four letter name and people get it wrong constantly. Spelling and pronunciation, somehow. Four letters!

Rhodes is nice, first or middle, and I've definitely heard more unusual ones over the years. If the worst insult people can come up with so far is "crossroads" or "dusty" I think he'll probably be ok. On the whole I think it goes better with Elias Grey as a middle name though, with a biblical first name, but I'm a sucker for a biblical name so I would say that.

Had you considered that when he gets angry, people will be calling him crossroads

It's not a name I would choose but I don't hate it. It goes well with Elias. I think he'll have a lifetime of spelling it and people thing he's called Rose...

It makes me think of the Greek Island, I had no idea about it's nature meaning. Don't like it sorry, you are opening yourself and him up to a lifetime of conceived on a Greek island jokes

I also would think immediately think of Cecil Rhodes if you introduced your baby Rhodes to me. Sorry I like an unusual name (plenty of people don't like my kids names) but I think you are underestimating this one. Elias is lovely!

I just want to be sure you know who you are proposing to name your baby after, so this is from his Wikipedia entry:

Rhodes wanted to expand the British Empire because he believed that the Anglo-Saxon race was destined to greatness.[10] In what he described as "a draft of some of my ideas" written in 1877 while a student at Oxford, Rhodes said of the English, "I contend that we are the first race in the world, and that the more of the world we inhabit the better it is for the human race. I contend that every acre added to our territory means the birth of more of the English race who otherwise would not be brought into existence."[57]

Is 'stylistically cohesive' the way to choose a name that someone will have forever? How well it matches their sibling... when they're adults, do you think this matters? As opposed to the practicality of having a name that needs explanation, spelling and sometimes pronunciation every time they arrange a work meeting with a client, every time they book an appointment, every time they meet anybody new.

I think Rhodes is lovely and goes with Elias better than Ben/Benjamin.

Don’t see why there would be jokes about it, also don’t see why people would assume he was conceived there. We are not all Victoria Beckham.

The misspelling bit is a bit of a red herring these days. Even common names seem to have sprouted alternative spellings so it’s not unusual to have to clarify. I have a name that can be spelt with a y or an ie. It’s not a big deal.

Another vote for Benjamin Rhodes. It flows much better with your surname.

The traditional nickname for someone with the surname Rhodes is Dusty.

Damned autocorrect! I didn't notice at first but of course 'Ella's' should be Elias.

Why doesn't the Edit function work for me? Grrr.

Er…