Classic boys name for a 'difficult' surname?

[user59457812]

We are really stuck for a boys name. DH and I have shortlisted a few but both feel a bit 'meh' about them, and I'm beginning to think we're never going to find one!

I think the issue is we have a 'difficult' surname - think von Trapp (it's not that, but not far off!). It tends to sound gradiose in English, as well as "a bit foreign" and I already have visions of DC getting stick for it at state school...

So, we think a relatively classic, English boys name would work well to balance it out - something that can have a nice nickname for when they are little. Quirkier names with a traditional root I'd think about too...

Help!

James- you can't go wrong with James!

Samuel
Benjamin
Gabriel
Adam
William
Benedict
Charles
Wilbur
Daniel
Arthur
Arlo
Leo / Leon
Tobias
Zachary
Francis/Frankie
Frederick/Freddie

John/Jonathan
Michael/Mike/Mick
Peter/Pete
Philip
Simon
Alistair/Alec
David

Francis. Frankie for short

Oliver. Ollie for short.

Mark (much underused)

Thanks ladies! I like a lot of these but DH has vetoed most - I really like Benedict and Zachary. Tobias is good too - but too many Toby's??

Keep them coming! xx

Oh and I adore Oliver - was so gutted to find that it's top two still this year. Don't think I want DC to be one of many with the same name in class (esp as it means surname will get used so much more often...)

From what you've said about your surname, then it would be best to go for a classic, pan-European sort of name.

I was thinking of Alexander, Peter or Nicholas, but I think Benedict would work (as might the other more normal Papal names such as John, Paul or Leo).

Depends where you live, hotpink. I have an Oliver (only name dh and I could agree on too - I wanted Xavier) and there's none in his class, only 2 others in the whole school (different year groups). I think there's more Adams, so depends on the area.

Tobias and Benedict 'von something' would sound INCREDIBLY posh! I wouldn't say they are 'ordinary' names to tone anything down.

Joseph
William
Jude

I think with a double barrelled surname, I would be tempted to go for a single syllable on the first name, just for sounding fab!

John is great!

Ha ha merry - yeah the von bit uber-poshes pretty much everything! Maybe we should look at Oliver again, not sure I could find out how many there are round here...we're in the South East, home counties.

Love Jude.

Sebastian
Lucas
Jacob
Nathaniel or Nathan
Aaron
Edward
Henry
Isaac
Ralph
Silas
Chritopher/Christian
Theodore/Theo
Matthew
Dominic / Nicky

Richard
Robert

Both simple and classic with lots of nn variations.

Home Counties. Everyone probably avoiding Oliver like the plague!! Not sure how you find out either...We're in East London.

Thomas!

HotPink we had the surname issue too - we are the only ones with our surname in the UK, and even in DH's country it's so rare that if he ever sees/hears it, he knows he will be related to the person with that name!

so we went for Oliver, and love love love it! thinking Teodor (Theo or Teddy) for DC2 if he's a he, but I also loved Edward, Alexander, Andrew, and Toby.

Oh, and my Oli is the only one we know so far (he's 2), and we are in the S.E. However, am quite sure he won't be alone at school!! he'll still be pretty unique though, as he won't be changing his surname any time soon!

oh, and we have noticed a lot of kids (and dogs, strangely) called Oliver when we go out places, so we'll hear yells of 'OLLIE!' every now and then. But recently I've noticed a lot of 'AIDEN!' and 'KIERAN!' being yelled too, so I guess it's just chance, how many you encounter!!

We have a something de something surname and found you either embrace it and go foreign or be very timeless and originless. Putting something 'English' like Edward or James wouldn't have worked but names like Leo, Alexander, Charles etc don't sound that pretentious in combination compared to trying to play it down IYSWIM

MerryMarigold, I live in South Wales and I know someone who moved here from Yorkshire whose name is Mark. Apparently it's not a common name up there, but here it is - he's really amused about how he can bump into 2 mates in the street for a chat and all 3 men are called Mark! Mark's a nice name though.