Alternatives to Theo?

[bamboobuddha]

After much squabbling, DH and I have stumbled on a name for DS2 that we both actually like - Theo. No mean achievement given DH's tastes usually run to things like Thor or Marmaduke (I kid you not), whereas I prefer slightly more normal names (not Tom, Edward and the like, but names like Laurence, Alistair and so on).

Unfortunately, one of our friends has a 3 year old called Theo, and we would both feel uncomfortable about "copying" her. We see this friend and her DC about every 3 months, do occasional joint holidays and have a reasonable circle of mutual friends.

So, any suggestions for alternatives to Theo? I'm actually not wild about the name Theodore (but would prefer to give the long version of a name on a birth certificate and could probably live with it). DH and I have vaguely agreed on Alexander as a fallback name if we can't come up with anything better, but we're both a bit meh about it (no offence to anyone with DC called Alexander; it's a perfectly nice name).

DS1 is called Hector. If DS2 had been a girl, name would probably have been Iona.

Leo is the obvious alternative.

I'm rather partial to Lionel too.

Sounds like you both like Scottish /Scandinavian names
link here to a list of scottish saints www.martinfrost.ws/htmlfiles/scottish_anatomy/scottish_saints.html

Saints Columba and Adomnan both have links to Iona

On the basis that you seem to like names with the "oh" sound in (Theo, Iona) how about Jago? Iago? Ludo? Milo? Leonardo? Antonio?

Or alternatively, Scottish names such as Rufus, Fraser, Euan etc

I know someone with a Theo and her best friend has a little boy called Leo. I prefer Leo myself.

Hmmm... perhaps "Euan" isn't a Scottish name, but a Welsh one. So perhaps Eoin (Yo - un) instead?

pinkorkid - thanks for the list of saints names! Most of them are a bit out there for us; I like Magnus, but can't convince DH.

I quite like Leo, but it sounds a bit daft with our surname. Leonardo possibly a bit better, but might sound strange for someone with no Italian roots?

Quite like Rufus (although is it bit too much like a dog's name ?

Hugo's a possibility.

I love Rufus. Yes, sounds a bit like a dog's name in the abstract but no one will think that as soon as they meet one.

Hector and Rufus sound great together! (my parents had a dog called Hector, he was awesome :o)

Lewis, Hamish, Graeme, Aaron, Sean all nicely celtic sounding.

I loved Theo too - DC2 will be Teodor (Teddy/Theo) if the scans were wrong and she's not a she - but alternatives we had were Toby or Eduard.

Hector and Hugo quite cool!

Iwan tends to be the Welsh form of the Ewan/Euan name - they're all John in another jumper basically, as is Yann, Yannis, Jan, Juan... etc.

Ioan is another Welsh one that might suit you - 'Yo-ann'.

Like Jago too.

Matteo. Teo (pr: Tay-o) for short. Or Matty.

Rufus is a great name!

Or how about Tristan, Maximilian, Sebastian, Miles, Felix, Aidan, Jasper, Elliot, Oliver?

Louis?

Love Rufus and Hugo.. How about Thaddeus?

Timo (Teemo). The name really grew on me after my son made friends with a Timo. It isn't short for Timothy (or anything else) in his case.

Rufus is a great name, as is Theo, i have a Theo :) but mine is 12 and there are none his age near us, it seems popular in the under 4's now, we got in there first

Also love Rufus and Hugo,what about Ajax or Theseus to continue the Greek myth theme.

Also like Giles and Guy

I would stick with Theo, if you really like it.

Arlo, Seth, Jacob, Gus, Arthur?

Lysander would go with Hector.

Arlo is also lovely, my ds4 has it as a middle name, he is Rudi Arlo :)

Thanks for all the suggestions so far.

Quite liking Sebastian and Felix (but the latter doesn't work with our surname). Jasper was on our shortlist last time round, but I've gone off it for some inexplicable reason. I like Oliver, but would prefer not to go for a Top 5 name (I had one of those from the 70s, and always found it a bit annoying to be one of 4 in a class).

Ajax and Theseus probably a bit heavy on the Greek theme for me, but don't mind going down this route with some more slightly Anglicised names. I like Jacob, but DH doesn't. I think Lysander works with Hector, but it just seems a little "try hard" to me.

TeamEdward - are you in London by any chance?

I really liked Theo but DH didn't so we settled on Lawrence funnily enough! I like Felix too (didn't work with our surname either) and I also like Alistair. How about Huey if you like Hugo?

Hector and Lysander would be too much. IMO.
It reminds me of a song we had to sing at school - the British Grenadiers.