The ONLY boys name I like is Arlo for a boy - why does my DH hate it so much?

[Amarilis]

Well, my title says it all.. It makes me sad that I love, love, love this name and DH really, really doesn't.

All he wants is William which I personally think while although wonderfully regal, middle class and safe, it's sooooooooo dull!

My choice would be Arlo William Michael or Arlo William Duncan..

Oh what to do people?!

Help...

because it's a dreadful name. I wouldn't mind betting that for every one person on the street you find who loves it, there will be 10 who hate it. Find something you both love.

x posted with TrillianAstra- exactly!

what about Marlow/Marlo or Marley?

What about Aaron? Arlo just screams 'poncey name' to me and the kids will love making up rhymes to go with it.
Stick to a traditional first name and stick Arlo down as his middle name.

I love the name Arlo.

what about Milo, Kester, Lawrence, Duncan, Arthur, or Rufus?

All similarly kickshittable

Kester, for fuck's sake...

I really like Arlo . William is ok, but a little dull/boring and definately teaseworthy ('willy').

there are two Williams at ds's school. Neither of them get called Willy. And I assure you it is NOT a posh school.

the thing is - a child might be called Willy a bit when he is 7 or so, but that will become dull by the time he's 15.

Whereas Arlo will tap RIGHT into the class consciousness of 19 year olds at university. I was a roaring inverted snob at nineteen (and yes, that DID make me a twat) and I wouldn't have bothered speaking to anyone called Arlo, or Hugo, or Kester, or anything else that clearly screams "I may have taken a career break to have this baby and I may jolly well never have a job that uses my abilities again as a result of this career break but MY GOD everyone is going to know that I have a degree!"

Well my ds's class (Y1) has a little William who does get called Willy a lot. Has nothing to do with poshness - little boys don't care about class, they are just being silly/childish!

yes little boys get silly. Big boys get nasty.

Must admit that any teenage boy with a poncey name will get picked on...Can remember the day a very reasonable Martin in class turned very uncool when we found out his middle name was Cornelius...there is has stuck with me for over 25 years!!!!!!

Rufus......just dont let him anywhere near Harlow with that name!!!!!

Don't just think about a cute baby ...think about the teenager!!!!

cant go wrong with a good old Keith, Kelvin, John, David, Jack etc....

colditz, I live 250 miles from London, and Arlo would be a perfectly standard name at my son's school. It is just as well I also went for the kind of name you despise, or else my son would have been bullied for being called something normal.

I think Arlo is a fine name. OP: does your DH really deserve that much of a say? When I came up with DS's name, I presented DH with a shortlist from which he could choose one. I put my favourite on it, along with six other names that were so outlandish (to his mind) that I knew he would choose my favourite one. He loves the name now.

But if your DH really has to have a big say, I think you do have to ditch both Arlo and William and start from scratch. FWIW, if I were having another boy, I'd call him Humphrey.

This depends where you live imo. In most countries (at least those I've live in) and in London teenagers are well brought up and accept most names, especially in an ever global society. Perhaps there are still parts of the UK where the (ridiculous) focus on class is prevalent and people get teased if they have a 'posh' or 'chav' name...

.. another reason why we'll be sending our children abroad to University.

Cornelius is a very old, non-posh Irish name!

I know 2 in their 60's (my dad's mates)

They are both called Con.

Calm down colditz! My DH vetoed all those...
Every boy round here is called Jack or Oliver- it's nice to have something different.

Lots of them in my family too, Breadandroses, also called Con, or Conn.

It's impossible to pick a name unless you both come up with a list of 20 each. This will force your DH to take a walk on the 'wild side', as the trad names will run out pretty fast.

Of course the dh "deserves a say" in naming his child. What a bizarre thing to say.

You both need to look at more names, I'm sure you will come up with something that you both like and are happy with.

Some names however much you love them just don't make it - Arlo would be a good name for a cat/dog in the future (not sure about William though)

Adults don't tease about names - do they colditz ?

Arlo is a nice name, I know an Arlo, think it is becoming more popular now.

I like Arlo. Very cool imo. Can honestly not see what would be teaseworthy about it.

William is ok, but a little dull and Willy is indeed a likely nickname on the school playground.

I prefer William I am afraid.
Arlo is getting very popular in a 'Felix' kind of way.
I work on post natal ward and have seen loads of Arlos lately.
William is smart and classic and strong (and I am not usually one for this type of name but i love Wiliam). Bill, Billy and Will are lovely nn.

Arlo will be dated 2008 - 2013 i think.

You cant use a name your husband hates - you can just hope he changes his mind when ds is born (mine did twice ).

I agree that names like Arlo will date far more than a name like William. It's also far more popular than you think. I know two under two and I'm not in London.

And of COURSE your partner has a say on what his son is called. How could it be otherwise?

I think you have to open your mind a little bit, and make a longer list, as does your DP. You should find common ground somewhere.

(I speak as someone whose DH was exactly the same, and who vetoed what I thought were perfectly reasonable names, like Leo, on the grounds that they were a bit too girly, but in the end we settled on what is probably the most boring name in the world, which I now LOVE, and it's actually a very uncommon name these days. I am now quite grateful that my DH was so stubborn about my list of names, as my DS would now be in a class with another two Leos....)