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Any old WW1 soldier type names for boys that haven't been used much?

60 replies

NatureAbhorsAHoover · 04/02/2012 10:54

I love Archibald/Archie and Alfred/Alfie, etc., but they're a bit overused in my neck of the woods now and any child would be one of three in the class.

Any less commonly used ones you that you like?

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lostboysfallin · 04/02/2012 10:56

Wilfred
WW1?

manicinsomniac · 04/02/2012 10:59

Was also going to say Wilfred. I don't like it but it's very WWI

So are Rupert and Siegfried!

moonunit2011 · 04/02/2012 11:00

I have a George Henry who is named after my Great Grandad who died in WW1. I guess both names are quite commonly used though.

Hassled · 04/02/2012 11:00

Herbert?

MollyintheMoon · 04/02/2012 11:01

Arthur
Stanley

NatureAbhorsAHoover · 04/02/2012 11:01

Yes, Wilf is definitely on the list.

WW1 = World War One. Chaps in the trenches and Rupert Brooke poems and all that Smile

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nicknamenotinuse · 04/02/2012 11:01

Wilf is very lovely.

NatureAbhorsAHoover · 04/02/2012 11:05

manicinsomniac - er, perhaps I should have said, names of soldiers who fought on our side Grin Grin Grin

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MollyintheMoon · 04/02/2012 11:05

Douglas
Ernest
Harold
Percy
Sidney
Bertie

RillaBlythe · 04/02/2012 11:08

Siegfried WAS on our side.

Methe · 04/02/2012 11:13

Edgar
Edmund

motherinferior · 04/02/2012 11:15

Or you could have a girl and call her Dulcie, as in Dulce et Decorum est...

sassyTHEFIRST · 04/02/2012 11:18

MI Grin

PopcornBiscuit · 04/02/2012 11:19

John
Francis
Clifford
Philip
Victor
Maurice
Vincent
Eric
Jerome
Sidney
Aubrey
Clement
Lawrence
Horace
Harold
Raymond
Clarence
Hugh
Wesley
Basil
Sylvester
Frederick
Edwin
Donald
Richard
Elmer
Anthony
Ernest
Walter

ScoutJemAndBoo · 04/02/2012 11:19

I did a search for a list of soldiers, and among them was

Ernest
Leonard
Basil
frederick
Sidney
Donald
Maurice
Rex
Walter
Guy
Claude

Here is the link

www.harrogatepeopleandplaces.info/ww1/soldiers/names.htm

gazzalw · 04/02/2012 11:20

Edward
Albert
George
Wilfred
David
Ernest

Think all authors of around that era in addition to all those beautiful lost boy poets....

ScoutJemAndBoo · 04/02/2012 11:20

Ps so far I love Hugh, Donald and Edwin the best, as old fashioned but not wet.

motherinferior · 04/02/2012 11:22

I had a grandfather called Edwin. Who fought in WW1. He was invalided out.

Can I ask, though, why you want to invoke a slaughtered generation?

missmiss · 04/02/2012 11:22

Cecil
Cyril
Cedric

motherinferior · 04/02/2012 11:22

Or Joey, after the horse in War Horse? Lovely horse, that.

HolyNoSheDittantBatman · 04/02/2012 11:25

I really like Percy and it's not one of the 'old' names that has 'come back' as yet.

lottiegb · 04/02/2012 11:28

Why, are you interested in late Victorian / Edwardian names, or is there something evocative about the whiff of mustard gas and gurgle of mud for you?

motherinferior · 04/02/2012 11:33

Or Khudadad, after Khudadad Khan, one of the 13,000 Indian soldiers who fought?

NatureAbhorsAHoover · 04/02/2012 11:42

Some great suggestions, thanks.

Yes, Gazza, I do have a soft spot for that style of name... they are strong, simple, masculine but not macho/aggro. Evocative of very old-fashioned virtues - noble sacrifice and bravery and less cynical times.

Of course any child of mine is likely to be every bit as sneeringly cynical of the world as I was as a teenager... the irony has not escaped me Smile

We can but try... Smile

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NatureAbhorsAHoover · 04/02/2012 11:47

Can I ask, though, why you want to invoke a slaughtered generation?

Er... The era is called WW1. I'm not seeking to glorify war, just looking at names circa 1910 -1920 as they have a style that's very appealing right now.

But yes, if they are the names of people who died in war, would you prefer we pretend they never existed Hmm?

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