Quentin or Hugo

I do like the name Hugo- if it sounds good with you surname then it should be fine.

I think the problem with these more unusual boys names is that in the UK other children might ridicule or bully them, but it will depend on where and what type of school your child attends.

I don't believe for one minute that a name makes you homosexual, but certain names do have overtones.

There was a famous very camp, gay English man called 'Quentin Crisp' who was quite notorious some years ago. Perhaps some people might still associate that name with him and consequently, homosexuality. Obviously, little children will not have heard of him but it's just a name that in UK society is often linked to this man.

On the other hand, you have Quentin Tarentino, the famous director, so it does depend on your viewpoint.

I think that traditional king's or saints names like Edward, Henry, William, Richard and James are still regraded in England as 'posh' names that most people like. Or perhaps something like Toby, Rupert, Oscar, Christian or Issac.

But as you have a European surname, then these names may not suit. Unfortunately, the class issue in the UK is alive and well, so I would advise not giving your son too unusual a name, that labels him.

St John is an odd one because as a name it is pronounced 'singen' or 'singon' not phonetically- 'St John' as you would read from the Bible.

Good luck with you choice.

I do like the name Hugo- if it sounds good with you surname then it should be fine.

I think the problem with these more unusual boys names is that in the UK other children might ridicule or bully them, but it will depend on where and what type of school your child attends.

I don't believe for one minute that a name makes you homosexual, but certain names do have overtones.

There was a famous very camp, gay English man called 'Quentin Crisp' who was quite notorious some years ago. Perhaps some people might still associate that name with him and consequently, homosexuality. Obviously, little children will not have heard of him but it's just a name that in UK society is often linked to this man.

On the other hand, you have Quentin Tarentino, the famous director, so it does depend on your viewpoint.

I think that traditional king's or saints names like Edward, Henry, William, Richard and James are still regraded in England as 'posh' names that most people like. Or perhaps something like Toby, Rupert, Oscar, Christian or Issac.

But as you have a European surname, then these names may not suit. Unfortunately, the class issue in the UK is alive and well, so I would advise not giving your son too unusual a name, that labels him.

St John is an odd one because as a name it is pronounced 'singen' or 'singon' not phonetically- 'St John' as you would read from the Bible.

Good luck with you choice.

I am French, DH English. We have a 4 year old Hugo who is nothing as described and some comments are particularly offensive andcompletely out of proportion. I don;t agree with associating a name with a personality and even less with sexuality,
we never had any comments about his name being posh!
On our list of matching French-English names, we also had Felix.

Prefer Quentin or how about Quinn?

Both names make me think of old farts in those corduroy trousers that posh people wear I'm afraid.

There are not enough Aubreys in this world imo

Giles?

Prefer Quentin

BTW, The French pronunciation is Konta(n)
(and is beautiful!)

listen here

I agree with Weasel - a confident child can carry off any name and make it cool, but if they happen to go through an awkward stage, or are quiet and shy, they are more likely to feel self-conscious anyway, and that can make it harder for them.

That said, I don't think Hugo would stand out at all, and Quentin wouldn't either if you live in a cosmopolitan area where children have names from all sorts of different cultures.

(my personal preference is Hugo )

I might be wrong but isn't Quentin pronounced Canton in French, not Kontan?

Canton sounds great, like the Chinese province.

annabelsmummie my pal hugo makes the very good point that it is rather difficult for non-english speakers to pronounce. it always ends up as oogo or whogo.

Mungo is my all-time favourite name. I have a new internet crush on Levantine now.

I'm gutted I wasted it on a cat in my feckless 20s.

Arthur sounds great in french. Definitely prefer Hugo to Quentin. My DH wanted our DS to be Monty but I said no due to bullying thing but now I've heard of loads of Montys - these names are all coming back (except Quentin - which is great in french but not so in English). It all depends on whether your DS turns out to be cool and good looking. If so, he can get away with any name!
And Tristan and Jamie are NOT posh names.

As the mother of a Mungo and an Aubrey I say go for it! We get funny comments the whole time about Mungo, which people think is made up (patron saint of Glasgow though) and Aubrey, well...it's kind of awkward to shout across a playground in south London but you know what? I stopped caring when I heard a mum calling her Aristotle to tell him to come and put his coat on. (And she wasn't even greek! She shortens it to Stots).

Frederick
Marcus
Peter
Dominic
Julius
Edward/Teddy
Guy
George
Gideon
Gregory
Barnaby
Patr ick
Richard/Richie
Robert/Robbie

There are some great boys names in a similar style to Annabel.

I love Hugo. I think Quentin is just horrible - it sounds like the name you'd give to an invertebrate.

and gorgeous he is too LG&T

Hugo. But then i have one so i am bisaed

I wanted Hugo for my son, but my DH is South African and said it reminded him of some Apartheid era politician

so our DD called her teddy Hugo instead

I love Hugo, and it sounds so lovely in French

St John that is

Have you never seen Four Weddings & a Funeral with the vicar trying to pronounce it? Very funny

Love both names, but especially Quentin.

I think Hugo is great - it was on my list for boys.

Not so keen on Quentin (or Queenie) - but there is Norman Quentin Cook, he's cool isn't he ?

I suspect both are upcoming names & there will be a wide variety of names (including made up ones) in his class.

Actually, to be fair I honestly don't think anyone at dss' school is teased for their name - I was being flippant... I left out all the other non-British/European/international names that boys have as well. Almost all the boys have their name abbreviated by their mates to three letters or a variant thereof, so Keieron is Ki, Jonathan is Jonno, Guy is Gedge, Terry is Tez and patrick is Patch to give a few examples. So al I would say is that certain names such as Theo are harder to abbreviate whereas Quentin will be quite easy, if that bothers you. My brother is Hugh - became Huggy Bear (after S&H ), and then Bear, which he has remained ever since.

But why would children at a private school know any different than children at a state school...? For them a name is just that: a name. Unless it is a silly name or a teaseworthy one (Gabriel - Gay boy etc), why would someone called Hugo or Quentin be teased?