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Baby names

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

Original poster

Wife and I can’t agree on name for our baby boy!

90 replies

noaddedsugarx · 02/01/2024 14:28

We really don’t have long left to go and it’s worrying me we haven’t picked a name.

Some names I have suggested that I love and she’s said no to are Knox, Sutton, Sullivan (my faves) Sawyer, Jonah, Bodhi, Asa, Eli, Cove, Holden.

She really likes Maddox which is alright but it doesn’t feel like the one. I know a lot of you on here aren’t a fan of River but that’s the only name we both love but I’m worried it’s getting really popular now and it’s putting me off.

Names we both kinda like are -
Cole, Rowen, Cohen, Parker, Zachary &
Cooper.

When we picked our daughter’s name we had it picked out for years and both absolutely loved it. I feel like we will end up just settling for our son’s name but I want to find something I love.

boys names are the hardest 🥲 help!

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wasanneofcleves · 04/01/2024 19:51

River is the best from your list and if you're in the UK it's not too popular (at least not where we are)

Maddy70 · 04/01/2024 19:46

noaddedsugarx · 03/01/2024 21:41

What do dogs have to do with it?!

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I totally misread the post i thought it was to name a dog #sleepdeprived ;)

MyBrownEyedHandsomeBoy · 03/01/2024 22:34

Zachary ❤️

You could even do Zachary River if you both love River

I know of someone who called their child Rivern. I thought this was lovely x

Cakeorchocolate · 03/01/2024 22:21

We found boys names hard.

We have an older dd and, like you, found naming her pretty easy. We picked her name a few days after the 20 week scan and never once doubted or regretted it. We still love it at close to 10 years old.

For ds it was much harder. I thought we'd be calling him baby until near the deadline for registering him. I think it was around 30 weeks when we found the one we both quite liked though. I still hoped for one I loved, 'the one', the same as dd's, but it never really happened. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it. He's almost 3 months old now and we're definitely happy with it.

makeminealargeoneagain · 03/01/2024 22:20

Blake

FlutteryButterfly · 03/01/2024 22:00

Not actually a fan of your type of names, im more traditional classic- but hey that's none of my bees wax.

Suggestions based on your taste-

Lennox
Clay
Kai
Kit
Coby
Austin
Jax
Dexter
Sol
Rio

Twoshoesnewshoes · 03/01/2024 21:58

Love River
its much less popular that Rowan too!

MrsMoastyToasty · 03/01/2024 21:54

This is Sullivan!

Wife and I can’t agree on name for our baby boy!
YaWeeFurryBastard · 03/01/2024 21:53

See also Sutton (Coldfield) and Parker (Pen)

LoisLane23 · 03/01/2024 21:53

We know a Sullivan.. just note every single person calls him Sully. Everyone. Not sure that's helpful but it wouldn't cross my mind to shorten it but thats what happened!! Hes mid teen now, probably never gets called his full name!

YaWeeFurryBastard · 03/01/2024 21:51

noaddedsugarx · 03/01/2024 21:45

@TheCraicDealer I do like Dawson but I don’t think we could use it as our surname ends in ‘son’

@dontforgetme Cole was definitely one of my favourites but that’s another name I’ve seen get absolutely rinsed on here. People saying it just reminded them of a lump of coal 😆

Cole is way better than (Amanda) Holden, (Mike &) Sully or (Mini) Cooper.

YaWeeFurryBastard · 03/01/2024 21:50

noaddedsugarx · 03/01/2024 21:40

I’m not an adult male thanks very much 🤣 but if I was yes I would love to be called that name. I wouldn’t think of naming my child it otherwise! I honestly don’t think River is too out there in this day and age.

I understand Boone is probably not many people’s cup of tea and as I have already stated I wasn’t aware Cohen was inappropriate.. already thanked PP for pointing that out.

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Sorry for assuming you’re a man but that makes my point even more pertinent. Can you run your choices past some blokes in their 30s and see how they react?

I know you want something quirky but you’re going to be naming a future adult. FWIW I think Avery is perfectly fine and nice.

Original poster
noaddedsugarx · 03/01/2024 21:45

@TheCraicDealer I do like Dawson but I don’t think we could use it as our surname ends in ‘son’

@dontforgetme Cole was definitely one of my favourites but that’s another name I’ve seen get absolutely rinsed on here. People saying it just reminded them of a lump of coal 😆

OP posts:
Original poster
noaddedsugarx · 03/01/2024 21:41

Maddy70 · 03/01/2024 05:38

I love human names for dogs

Bob.steve.hugo.bryan. paul..dexter

What do dogs have to do with it?!

OP posts:
Original poster
noaddedsugarx · 03/01/2024 21:40

YaWeeFurryBastard · 03/01/2024 17:39

They’re all awful except Rowan (with an a) and Zachary.

Would you, an adult male like to be called River? Sorry to be Debbie downer but I wouldn’t thank my parents for giving me an out there name. There are plenty of lovely, fairly unusual names to choose from without picking random surnames.

Some of the choices are astounding, I mean Boone?! Really? And Cohen is not at all appropriate as PP have pointed out.

I’m not an adult male thanks very much 🤣 but if I was yes I would love to be called that name. I wouldn’t think of naming my child it otherwise! I honestly don’t think River is too out there in this day and age.

I understand Boone is probably not many people’s cup of tea and as I have already stated I wasn’t aware Cohen was inappropriate.. already thanked PP for pointing that out.

OP posts:
threecupsofteaminimum · 03/01/2024 21:11

I adore the name River.

babyonwayx · 03/01/2024 20:59

Sonnie / Sonny
Oakley
Rory
Brodie / Brody

YaWeeFurryBastard · 03/01/2024 17:39

They’re all awful except Rowan (with an a) and Zachary.

Would you, an adult male like to be called River? Sorry to be Debbie downer but I wouldn’t thank my parents for giving me an out there name. There are plenty of lovely, fairly unusual names to choose from without picking random surnames.

Some of the choices are astounding, I mean Boone?! Really? And Cohen is not at all appropriate as PP have pointed out.

dontforgetme · 03/01/2024 17:26

Op I LOVE Cole.

Sundaysunshine21 · 03/01/2024 17:24

Go for River if it’s what you like! A few other suggestions below that feel like they might be similarish to some of your suggestions (and that I think fit nicely with Avery):

Avery and Luca
Avery and Logan
Avery and Ethan
Avery and Nico
Avery and Max
Avery and Rex

Maddy70 · 03/01/2024 05:38

I love human names for dogs

Bob.steve.hugo.bryan. paul..dexter

Theoldwoman · 03/01/2024 05:29

Lennon
Romeo
Clark
Cobey
Regan
Oscar
Patrick
Judd
Walter
Vance
Archibald

Theoldwoman · 03/01/2024 05:22

You certainly have a mix of surnames and Christian names, so hard to gage your style.

Some suggestions:

Fox
Lincoln
Torin
Drew
Silas
Otto
Cosmo
Evan
Rufus
Ayrton
Campbell
Mason
Weston
Bentley
Uriah
Trey
Brock
Kurt
Jacques
Felix
Leyton
Chad
Kale
Wyndham
Porter
Wade
Quade
Dion
Anton
Jarvis
Kalman

Hankthehonk · 03/01/2024 05:08

I can relate to the difficulty of choosing boy names - for our daughter, we were certain of her name very early on and even had another girl name locked in. I'm 32w pregnant with a boy and it's much harder for us!
Seems like you will likely go with River, which is great! When I saw that your daughter is Avery my first thought was actually that they sound nice together.
We have different tastes but I've also gravitated towards surnames as first names and been a bit bemused by all the negativity towards it on MN. There are quite a lot of surnames that are also common first names here in Scotland especially for boys. Many on our list could be either (Cameron, Fraser, Flynn - which is Irish, I know- Reid).

SheilaFentiman · 02/01/2024 21:11

I agree that avery and river are quite similar sounding. Would you consider other river/nature type names, since you like Rowan?

Brook
Fleet
Cranbourne
Tyburn
Hudson
Falcon