OK, so girls narrowed down to 2 I really like, but seriously struggling with boys!

[MamaM22]

Hey!

When expecting DS, we knew straight away what he would be called but struggled to agree on a girls name. This time round it's the opposite! We're pretty much settled on either Seren or Elsie for a little girl (both of which I love equally), but have absolutely no idea for a boy!

I quite like Joe, Oliver, Ted, Callum, Lorcan (Irish), but I don't love any of them! I like quite traditional names, nothing new or "made-up". Any recommendations??

I like Lorcan a lot, as well as Callum. Joe and Oliver are everywhere and a little dull imo.

How about these traditional names
Dominic
Quentin
Clement
Reuben
Patrick

I like Patrick, but am not so keen on "Paddy", which it would inevitably be shortened to. Quentin/Clement/Reuben aren't really my cup of tea. I like quite a strong male name.

DH isn't so keen on Joe, although it's a family name for me. He thinks a "Joe" is destined to become a painter and decorator! LOL!

I have a Joe (Joseph) and I love the name. I thought it was quite unusual when we had him, but he is 19 and has four - FOUR!! - mates called Joe. Samuel is lovely too, and Rory - which is quite unusual I think.

See, I think of Joe/Joseph as quite soft sounding whereas Reuben or Clement are much harsher/stronger sounding to my ears. Interesting how we have different associations

Strange! Isn't it! Don't think I'm being rude, but I think those names are a bit pretentious . We're Irish, maybe that explains it! Lol! Lots of Rorys here, and one of my very close friends just called her little boy Ronan.

Oooh, just been thread-hopping. Leonard, Lenny for short, I quite like that!

I always wonder why Julian doesn't come up on these threads?

If I had a DS one day, I'd love to use it.

But I didn't grow up in this country (am a former colonial ) so maybe I'm missing some cultural connotation here?

Yes I guess it's very geographical - no Rory's round here, or v few... Totally about it sounding pretentious?? Tarquin maybe or Tibalt or Piedmont - all of which I hv come across, hard tho it is to believe!

I don't get the 'pretentious' worry that some of you bring up. Pretending to be what excactly ?

Yes, I like Julian too, MrsJelly - lovely classic underused name and Jules is a cute nickname.

We're having a girl but our the 2 boys names we had in mind were Joseph/Joe or Isaac/Zac.

What about Josiah, nn Joe.

We know a Patrick. No one calls him Paddy.

Rowan
Dara
Sean

I have a Patrick and his nn is Patch. He will never be a paddy in this house !

Alexander
Alistair
Ruben
Jasper
Giles

John
Quinn
Michael

www.thefreedictionary.com/pretentious

Just to clear up the confusion.
It doesn't mean you are actually pretending to be something in particular, just that you are being showy.