Opinions on these two please!

[nonsenses]

Theo and Louis are our shortlisted names for son to be. Not Theodore/Theobald and Louis pronounced as Louee.

In your opinion, which is more timeless, more unusual, more hip, more classy, more handsome, more serious.

thanks!

Sorry, should have written IN THE UK

I believe Louie is the German spelling. Louis looks nicer though.

I know a Louis and some people do call him Lewis.

In fact Louis Smith the gymnast is a 'Lewis'.

rachel - Louis will be pronounced Louee not Lewis. Never heard of the gymnast. I only know of Louis's pronounced Louee - Louis Walsh, Louis Theroux, Louis Armstrong, all the kings called Louis! there's even a Louis (Louee) in a boy band - the X factor one. Even prince william has it as a MN - pronounced Louee. I can't think of any Louis's in the spotlight that are pronounced as Lewis. the Louis i knew growing up was Louee etc etc. I doubt they'll be issues.

Thanks anyway though!

People do mispronounce Louis 'Lewis'. I'm sure it can't be a major issue though, or the spelling would have evolved to reflect it in UK.

Louie is a 'proper' spelling of the name though

Either way I prefer it to Theo anyway. (Although I like the French pronunciation 'Tayo'.)

I quite like Tayo too! Louie looks girlie to me, maybe because of Louise.

I've heard Louis pronounced the French way (Lou-ee) and the English/German/Spanish way (Lou-is). It seems interesting that only some English speakers pronounce it the French way (whereas the German and Spanish for example pronounce it phonetically correct in their language).

St Louis (US City) is generally said LEWIS and Louis Armstrong calls himself LEWIS in the song Hello Dolly in the refrain HELLO DOLLY , THIS IS LOUIS{LEWIS} DOLLY.

But it really doensn't matter which way you prefer. But do be aware that some people are going to mis-pronounce his name. Not the end of the world.

And if it bothered you, I suggest you go for Louie - no confusion there .

Both names are quite popular, with Theo much more so imo (probably due to footballer Theo Walcott).

Regarding Louis, if I were to ask someone for their name and they said
"Louis", I'd write "Louis". If they said "Louie", I'd write "Louie".
The exception would be if they had what I might identify as a French
accent; in that case I'd ask them to spell it for me. So, yes, I think you need to be prepared that not everyone will pronounce it the French way.

Lots of names have this issue. My friend has an Esme (es-may) and is sometimes called Esm-ee. Doesn't worry me as I have the same issue Sara/Sarah!