William, Eric or Albert? Help me to choose

William for me

William.

Nope, no negative connotations that I know of (maybe “doubting Thomas” in the Bible but few people would care about that imo). I think Thomas is lovely - as classic, timeless and international as William (in fact I think the only other name that comes as close as those two to being an international timeless classic is perhaps Alexander).

It’s a very tough choice for me between Thomas and William 😀.I think William just about wins it as there is more choice of diminutive for him if he wants one, nicer name “meaning” if that matters (“resolute protection” vs “twin”) and stronger name associations (when I think of William, I automatically follow it with “the Conquerer”, a bit like Alexander “the Great” but that might just be me 🤣).

I am taking the name Albert out of my post and introducing a new name: Thomas. I hope it doesn’t have an unpleasant or unpopular connotation. Thanks again!

As long as you're not putting John in front of it you'll be fine. 😆

My DH has a friend Eric, known by all as Ricky…

Thomas is my absolute favourite boys name ever. So handsome and manly, suits all ages. Tom is a really down to Earth, friendly sort of name. Tommy is ok for a cheeky chappy youngster.

Thomas first choice, William second. Definitely not the other two.

William for me, by an absolute mile. Classic, suits all ages, lovely nn potential.

'bert' is such an ugly sound. Albert itself is ok at a push but the nn options are not nice (imo). Albie is infantile, Bertie awful.

Eric feels like an old man name to me. I don't know of any little ones, personally, so I can't imagine it on a baby.

Definitely William!

So my favourite is Albert but biased as I have one. It's really interesting seeing all the comments about nicknames as ours is never shortened and unlikely to be as already a few Albies in his year at school. I would think about the full name you like and yes be mindful of the nn but pick which name you like most ( to add my eldest only goes by a nn of his name so it's not that we won't shorten names)

I like Will or Wills and Bertie

Eric is definitely the best of the bunch! I teach an Eric and the name has really grown on me. Bonus- here aren't that many Eric's around atm, although I definitely think it's a bubbling under name

I think Albert has too, or with slight but recognisable variations, Alberto, Alberti, Albrecht and so on

Of the 3, Eric is the only one that has an "international feel"

My favourite of them is William but it has international variants (Guillaume, Guilherme, Wilhelm etc) so William just feels very British.

Don’t like any of them, sorry op. Eric is just ugly. William and Albert have too many royal connections and daft nicknames for me. Sorry. If you forced me, I’d go with William as the last terrible option.

What options? Big Willy?

William definitely. More options later when he wants to assert himself

I don't care for Eric (Although I do like Alaric, sorry, I know you said no more names!). Nothing wrong with it. Just not an especially pleasurable name to hear or say for me. A bit sterile.

William is solid, relatable and likeable. Billy or Will are nice nicknames, not babyish. Although very well known and historical it has a certain joviality (maybe from Just William?). Can't go wrong.

Albert my favourite in full but not a fan of the short forms except Al or Ali. I'm not personally into Albie and those sorts of names.

I like William with the NN Liam. Bill/will are more old fashioned but I like that he would have options.
Eric and Albert are both old man names to me, but given Arthur is back I imagine they might well be popular again and I've just missed it!

Thomas is my favourite of all your name ideas - I would have used it myself but my cousin used it first.

Thomas is a good solid name. I still prefer William, though.

Thomas is another good, safe bet, and I'd categorise it most closely with William. Actually, Thomas was the only name DH and I agreed on for a boy... until I had a little troublemaker called Thomas in my class. It wasn't a problem in the end - we had two girls!

Just avoid John Thomas, and you'll be fine.

I like Eric.

Eric is the best. It also travels well.

The shortenings for William (Willy) and Albert (Albie, Bert) are unfortunately not nice at all.

I said earlier up thread that Erik is awesome - that’s because one of my DS’ is called Erik.

We love Erik the Red and the associated Nodic mythology.

We do shorten it though, we call him Eri (pronounced Erry).

Actually we call him all sorts. We use a lot of derivatives when it comes to names, in my family.

William, timeless and classic
Eric and Albert, both seem very old fashioned to me.

Associate all 3 with Prince in front of them

Prince Eric- little mermaid
Prince William- Royal family
Prince Albert- unfortunate piercing

So I'd go for Eric