Bertie - Bertram

[Nightstar]

My husband and I had chosen this name. I'm a massive fan of PG Wodehouse (Bertie Wooster) but we made the mistake of telling the parents who pulled faces.

They suggested Robert, Albert or Gilbert, so that it could be shortened to something other than Bertie, but Bertie was the name we wanted. We even considered putting that on the birth certificate instead of Bertram so as to avoid him having any other name. But i am a traditionalist and wanted him to have a 'real' name and not a 'made up for convenience name'.

Since we stupidly told the parents, their reaction has made us question whether its the right name.

Any thoughts?

I reely reely do like Bertie/Bertram though as well.

Leo -- lovely
Edmund -- lovely
Tyvian -- American trailer trash or inner city
Byron -- middle aged American (I have an image of terrible golfing trews c. 1975)
Hugo -- lovely
Jasper -- nice but associate it with pets
Tristan -- wet
Ernest -- 'he drove the fastest milk cart in the West'

I think you have to have a 'Just William' vibe in your house to really make Bertie or Ern work.

I don't think a teenager would be very happy being called Bert or Ernie

he'll never get laid with a name like that

Bertie is brilliant. He'll be sooo cool. Don't listen to all the riff raff, what do they know? Our parents did 'the face' when we named our son....now he's 4 and they couldn't imagine him called anything else. I know a baby Gilbert and he is gorgeous enough to carry his name too!

from the rest of your list, I like Leo, Edmund and Hugo (although probably wouldn't use Hugo myself)

don't really like the rest, sorry.

Leo and Edmund were on our name list too, but Bertram came out top overall.

What about Thurston?