Balthazar

[tummytickler]

This is now on our boys list. It is not a very long list now. It consists of Balthazar and Clarence. They are the only two names dh and I agree on.
So, what do you think of Balthazar?
I know opinions on Clarence as I asked in June and got a very negative response. Feel free to add an opinion about Clarence if you want though!
I think Balthazar sits better with the sibset, but I also love Clarence, I worry Balthazar might be a bit too 'out there;.

Thanks all.

Nowherewoman - we live in Brighton, so close!

Definately not a joke. These are the only names dh and I both like. I would call him Shem given the choice, but dh is having none of it!

Sparkle - Zolly is cute - I like that nn.

Mn will be Jonathan Michael, so nice and inoffensive . All my boys have 'sensible mn, (David, Peter and Raymond), and more unusual Hebrew first names.

Any more opinions?

Balthazar is horrible. Sorry.

Clarence is ok but have you considered Clancy?

I LOVE Balthazar. I wouldn't have it as a first name due to lack of nice nicknames and just the way it will be perceived (we have a double barrelled surname too). But it is our middle name for our baby due in January :)

PS: On the 2008 census it didn't get registered once. This might be a good or bad thing, I don't really mind.

Hmm - we have a double barrelled surname too.
Is it too long

Balthazar Jonathan Michael Barmy-Monsters.

How does it sound?

dh likes Bal / Bally for a nn.

It is quite fabulous, but it's way too out there for me to use. Very 'We Three Kings Of Orient Are'. Could use "Bolt" as a nickname maybe? (or am I pronouncing it wrong - I say "Bol-tha-zar" but is it a "Bal" sound as in "bat"?)

I really like it. I'd say Bal-ta-zar. Nicknames could be Bal or Baz.

I also like Shem but actually think Balthazar is 'cooler'.

Also works in other languages quite well. I know a German Balthasar.

Ridiculous. Why do people feel they have to be 'different'. We are all unique - like everybody else!

It is cruel, silly and selfish to give a child a stupid name that they will be derided for thier entire childhood.

stillbobbys, to me the whole point of 'naming' someone or something is to identify it. There are so, so many lovely names to choose from, so why restrict ourselves to the a few popular ones.

Balthazar is perfectly normal, old classic name, it just isn't widely used at the moment. Doesn't make it stupid imo. And, shouldn't we encourage more diversity in names? Wouldn't that make life more interesting?

I used to know a Balthazar at university - he'd be abut 40 now. My God he was wierd. Sorry but that put me off.

So his first 2 initials would be BJ? Maybe not a good idea.

Clement is a great name, Clarence is in the same vein as Softy Walter and Balthazar?? Words fail me...

Clement is awful,as bad as Clarence.

Balthazar is marginally better than either of those,but that's not saying much.

I quite fancied Balthazar Getty when he was a mere youngster in Young Guns 2.....

I quite like the name, wouldn't use it, but like it all the same!

xxx

Balthazar is great if he wants to be a shipping magnate when he grows up, or an international man of mystery.

Not so great if he wants to be taken in any way seriously by his peers.

The less said about Clarence, the better.

I like Clement.

I've not met a Balthazar but is has a classic old fashioned feel to it. I quite like it. Would probably use Bal as nickname.

Clancy - good.

Nebucanezzar? Neb for short

Balthazar is really nice, but Clarence is not. Agree with TSC wrt Clement -- fab name imo.

Another of the Three Kings -- Caspar?

Nebuchadnezzar? He sent the Jews into exile so you might be sending out a message. He also built the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Generally depicted as a pretty bad guy.

Belshazzar made a feast and gave all his wives kids and concubines gold goblets to drink from, which he had looted from the temple in Jerusalem. Then, the moving finger wrote on the wall "thou hast been weighed in the balance and found wanting". Brilliant setting by Walton, well worth a listen.

Shadrach, Meshach or Abednego?

Bad guy from Charmed.

Its horrible, sorry. Picture the name, and then picture actually giving it to a child. The name itself might be okay, but for someone to live with for at least 18 years until they can change it themselves..? It might be an old fashioned name, but there is a reason it has died a death.

Even in Brighton it would get odd looks.