Joe/Spike - your votes are needed please!

[luth]

20 months ago I called on the good people of mumsnet to choose my dd's name. www.mumsnet.com/Talk/baby_names/1005168-Primrose-Rosie-your-votes-are-needed/AllOnOnePage

We were having a dilemma between the popular Rosie and the more unusual Primrose and asked you to cast your votes. Although reaction was mixed, Primrose won and we couldn't be more delighted with it now - people who don't like it are mercifully silent and those who do gush with excitement when they hear it. I'm rather addicted to the "oh what a beautiful name" comments I still get regularly and my daughter is well known around our small town ie "oh that's Primrose" because it stands out and she is therefore easily remembered.

So I'm now due in 3 weeks with no 2 - this time with a boy! My partner and I find choosing names a nightmare (but don't want to discuss names with our friends or family as we're keeping the sex secret from everyone). We're down to 2 names: Joe (not Joseph) and Spike and it's kind of the same dilemma as before. Do we stick to the safe Joe and have Spike as a middle name or go for the more 'out there' Spike for a first name given that we have had such a positive reaction to our unusual girls name.

DH thinks that boys can't carry off unusual names like girls and that he'll get bullied and pre-judged if he's called Spike. However I've just read another thread which says that Joe is really popular and although this shouldn't bother me, I would mind if he was say one of three Joe's in his class.

So we've decided to go with you lot again! Please cast your vote for either:
Option 1 - Joe Spike Palmer
Option 2 - Spike Joe Palmer

Thank you in advance for helping us out and taking the time to respond!!!

I like Spike. Joe is indeed a little 'boring' in comparison.

Spike is cute. We uses Spike as a nn for DS for a while (his name is Isaac, it was a nn for Ike) but he stopped being spikey so we used something else. Not sure I'd use it as a BC name (can't get over buffy either) but that's just me. Go for it if you love it though. You can always revert to Joe in the future.

Joe.
Don't like Spike sorry. sounds a bit daft.

Joe was my boy name (and will be if I get pregnant again) so will vote for that but don't think it goes with Spike at all, in either order I just don't think it flows IMHO

Fwiw, boys can carry unusual names. Our ds has an unusual name and he wears it well. It is a name though and has no unfortunate connotations. Spike sounds a little aggressive and unfriendly. I agree it is the sort of name you give someone you already know who exhibits those attributes, not a name you give a small child who could turn out to be very, very different to the implication given by his name.

With Spike won't people always ask, yes, and what is your real name? Sounds more like a nickname to me.

Option 1.

We have a Joe (not Joseph), so it is obviously a most fabulous name ...

Spike is really cool as a NN, but apart from sexy vampires there is the daft, more-brawn-than-brain dog in Tom and Jerry to consider. So, no to Spike. For a child. Good name for a dog, mind.

My DH is a Spike, and although he's been known as it for almost his whole life (and I love the fact that's his name) I'm really not sure about it as a given name. I think this is especially true with middle names for some reason.

I think Spike Joseph would work, but Spike Joe just sounds like two nicknames, and the same is true if they're reversed. Neither sounds like a proper name, so to me it just doesn't flow.

I also love Primrose - but that's a different kettle of fish entirely; it might not be a regular name, but it stands up on its own and has some gravitas.

What about Spike in hi-de-hi, he was lovely. Ithink Spike is much better than Joe. There are lots of Joe's.

And gabid - yes, I can confirm that people ALWAYS ask DH (or me) 'yes, but what is your/his REAL name?'. And they eye you suspiciously as they say it, as though you're hiding the fact that your real name is something heinously embarrassing like Keith.

Joe for sure ( unless ur planning on dying hair blond and buying a leather jacket) :o

Please don't name your child Spike.

Joe, definitely. Spike is awful.

I know a lovely, grown-up, professional, talented, charming Spike. And there are too many Joes around. Go for Spike! (Although I also like Caleb, suggested by someone else. And Seth.)

Wonder if it's my husband NotNowCato? He's 45 and in banking. So moderately respectable and professional.

See, I like Spike as a first name and know a very posh one. It doesn't go with Joe though. Spike James sounds better.

Definitely Joe, not Spike.

Spike? What is he? A Pit Bull?

I think Spike is ace, DC3 would have been Spike, if she had been a boy.

Joe is better than Spike. Anything is better than spike. It makes me think of a vicious cartoon dog.

I've got a pet chicken called Spike. I think other boys would think that name rather funny. I'd go for Joe.

I like Spike. Option 2.

i know a really sweet little Spike.

i would go for Spike