Hayden is top of my list but...

[pinkladyslipper]

Morning, i am not a not a big poster, more of a lurker but due dc2 in 16 weeks. We have a girls name picked but i am struggling with a boys name. We have one DS and I love his name, its quite unusual and old. I just cant seem to find a name that I love as much as his and I have 4 baby name books! At the moment I am liking Hayden. No offense but I hate the Cadens, Jaydens etc but Hayden doesnt bother me even though they rhyme. At least I have lots of time but would like in my head to have him named.

So could please help me decide among the few that I/we actually like seeing as this one is most likely another boy! (according to scan!)

Adam
Caleb
Hayden
Sam
Daniel
Finn
(on original list for DS we had Noah and Matthew but not really sure about these now)

Many thanks :)

I'm not keen on Hayden, because my first reaction would be that it's an odd spelling of Haydn (and I would also use "high-den" as default pronunciation). Obviously you've made it clear this isn't your chosen pronunciation, OP, but I see also I'm not the only person who sees this as high-den; and in RL people won't know your preference until you correct them. Are you OK with the prospect of needing to do that?

Of the others:

Adam - lovely
Caleb - OK
Sam - like
Daniel - lovely, lovely, lovely
Finn - OK
Matthew - lovely
Noah - OK

Please don't condemn the poor child to 85 years of " Yes, I know, but it's pronounced Hayden" "No, it's spelled Haydn" It would be sooooooo annoying!

The Haydn I dated was a Hay - den not a High -den.

Given that he was a very nice, public / private school educated with Oxbridge degree I'm assuming he knew how to correctly pronounce his name? Or maybe there's more than one way of pronouncing it?

Ok. Ask the next 10 adults you know how to pronounce H-A-Y-D-N and see what they say. If they all say Hayden, that's fine and I'm wrong. All I'm saying is that it's a serious pain in the neck having to spell your name every time you give it to anyone and to correct the pronunciation every time somebody reads it out.

Haydn = Hayden for me :)

I know 3 Haydens and they are all girls so not getting a vote from me I just do not care for unisex names.

I always did like Daniel but best friends son so couldnt use it.

If you want unusual what about Conrad, Otis, Eli, Solomon

Haydn = high-den; Hayden = hay-den.

If it's the strong A sound you like, how about Nathan instead? Or even Aidric (recently mentioned on Appellation Mountain)?

I really don't like Hayden and Caleb, not my taste at all.
I think the pronounciation High-den is awful too sounds like Hyacinth Bucket.

Adam, Sam and Daniel are nice names but they are a bit safe IMO.

I really like Finn, Noah and Matthew.

I nosily want to know your DS's name

Avoid Hayden if you dislike Aidan, because it will be often misheard and people will call him Aidan.

HI again, It would be definitely Hayden pronounced as it say it as you see it! Not HIGH-DEN. Well as Adam, Daniel, Sam are "safe" as such, even though I do like them, it is why I would like something like Hayden, a bit different and I have only heard of one in real life. Most likely Caleb wont happen! DH and I have different tastes in names 90% of the time, I am surprised we found two or three we both like! I will come back in the summer saying his name is nothing that is on this list!!

Finn, Noah, Matthew, Daniel.

Not Hayden.

Samson
Nathaniel
Benedict
Josiah

Nearly all the names on your list are Biblical, so why not see if there are any less common ones that you might fancy, like say, Darius - Jared - Asher

"Behind the Name" is a good site www.behindthename.com gives a very comprehensive list of Biblical names, and many other kinds.

My son is called Haydn. My mums maiden name was Haydon but I just shorten it. Everyone else spells it Hayden including his teachers! Wouldn't get hung up on how you spell it tbh.
Good luck with your name choice.