We've finally agreed on names! And they are.....

[LuckyOwl28]

Joey Anthony

and

Bethany Megan

We've been trying to avoid too common or too modern, what do you all think? x

This idea of what's 'expected' and 'acceptable' are to who's standards anyway? In this day and age with kids being called 'Apple Blossom' and some even being spelt in text literature (even I think that's an extreme), I think Joey seems mild in comparison

Bethany Megan is fine. Beth is lovely.

Joey is terrible imho - but it's your child so you don't care what I think, of course and nor should you I guess!

Love Joey! Go for it :)

Bill Gates full name is William Henry Gates, and I agree with mathananxiety that a CV or other formal document with an applicant called Joey may not create the desired impression. It's a cute name for a boy but not great for a high court judge iyswim?

I know a boy and a girl Joey.

A couple of Anthonys but more with it as middle name.

Also have approx 6 Megans and 4/5 Bethanys that I can think of locally.

Strange how areas differ in that way. I like them though.

Joey sounds like a budgerigar!

Blimey, this is 'baby names', not AIBU! There is a constructive was to say you don't love a name...

OP, for what it's worth, I love your names. I love Joey because I loved Joey in Friends. We have personally opted for formal boring names on birth certificates as you never know what your child's personality will be like, and we wanted plenty of options. Then again, I guess he could always shorten to Joe if he wanted something more formal.

I'm not sure about Joey, but I'm keeping out of the NN/full name on BC debate as I have to fence sit.

I think full names give choice, but I never use mine and gave DD the short form as her middle name.

Bethany Megan is nice. I have a huge soft spot for Megan as I know two very special ones.

I doubt Bill Gates would use Bill on his CV. It would be William. Bill Gates isn't the best example though as he probably doesn't need a CV at this point of his life. I bet he used his full formal name when he was applying to Harvard though.'

Unfortunately for the Apple Blossoms of this world (and the Poppys -- see another thread here about Ken Livingstone's comments on this name) they will all need a job at some point of their lives and unless Daddy/Mummy has one available, then someone else is going to be reading that piece of paper that will either get them in the door for an interview or get them a 'thank you for your interest' letter. For most people the thing that they hope will jump out at the average HR paper pusher is their experience and their education and that nothing will distract the attention of the reader from those elements of the CV, like poor spelling, or a name that seems inappropriately informal, too friendly, and over familiar when the HR dept hasn't even met the applicant yet.

I'm probably dating myself, but to me, a joey is a condom... :-/

I dont like either boy or girl names, very boring and ordinary. Joey? is he a baby animal? they just sound to me like very boring, normal, couldnt-really-be-arsed-so-these-names-will-do kind of names.

Do you think an adult man would like to be called Joey? And he really will spend his life saying "no, just Joey. No not short for anything."

Joey is a bit of a comedy name. Sorry.

Joe, however, is fine. Nice and solid. You wouldn't be embarrassed to introduce yourself as Joe.

My Joey is now 6 foot, dark eyes and hair.
Very clever, funny & has lots of friends.
He is Joseph on Bc but he has always been Joey. It suits him. I sometimes call him Joe, but everyone else calls him Joey.

To add My rather dashing son is neither a kangaroo or a condom

How about Joel? Think Joey Anthony doesn't sound right, both ending in ie sound maybe?

Personally I cannot wait until this country has a high court judge called Poppy or Dwayne.

Seriously there is far too much snobbery in the UK about names.

chickydoo

Joey as a nn is fine.

"Bill Gates" is actually William - and anyway, Bill is more 'professional' than 'Billy'.

I work for a headhunter, solid names do matter. They really, really do. I do think, however, they matter more for woman than men, who can 'get away' with a 'cutesy' name on their CV if their CV is fabulous. Woman unfortunately are treated as lightweight much more than men anyway, however Bethany is a very grown up solid name that she can do anything with - you can imagine a Judge called Bethany, a CFO of a FTSE 100, it also works for the lead singer of a super cool band, the woman cutting your hair or a mum on the school run - Bethany is one of those really great names that would never hold her back and it's hard to pre-judge what "Bethany" would be like just off her name.

Joey, however, is cutesy. Cutesy is good for a child who is cutesy. I would think carefully about putting a cutesy name on a birth certificate rather than a solid traditional one.

the other issue is you have to "ee" sounds in the first two names - Joey and Anthony - doesn't sound right said outloud.

I personally don't like Joey as I think it is neither here nor there. It does remind me of a budgie sorry! Bethany Megan is alright but I would use it the other way round Megan Bethany. That's just my opinion though if you've got your heart set on them then use them.

Joey - oh dear. I grew up in the eighties and it was used as a term of abuse by the less nice kids at school. I can't really get past that. Or the budgie connection.

Bethany is pretty, a bit medieval, but I like it.

I'm not convinced middle names matter much as who uses them on a day to day basis? I have no idea what my friend's middle names are.

Yes- the Joey-face thing. I was hoping nobody remembered that. People still do the face, but they don't call it that any more, do they?