boys names for cool boys?

[MyFriendGoo]

DH and I are totally stuck- he thinks my choices are boring (Henry, Barnaby, Max) but his choices are too out there for me (Milo, Jobie, Amos). We've agreed we want a name that shows a bit of spark and individuality, but we need a middle ground! Thoughts?

I agree that it's the child that makes the name cool, not the other way round. DS1 (reception age) is called Alfie and the boys, girls and teachers love him. He already has his own style and loves rock music. That's all down to him, rather than us though IFYSWIM. We know another Alfie, complete opposite. We also know a very whiny Max and a Finn (who is nasty and mean, not cool, down to his parents though). Def down to the child, or parents, rather than the name.

How do you know your little boy is going to be 'cool'?

Rex??? Milo is quite common where I live. Jonah? Theo? Love Kit too.

"A cool kid makes their name cool, unless they have a really normal boring name like Matthew or James, in which case they can still bew cool but their name won't stand out as part of their coolness."

I completely agree with this. As we don't tend to have so many associations with underused names, any new person has his/her chance to make a new impression on us. I know some cool teenagers called Orlando, Xander and Quentin. The cool boys called Alex, Matt or James are still cool but their names are too ubiquitious to add to their coolness imo.

And yes, of course it is a person and their personality that determines coolness, not their name. But a cool person can therefore make an underused name cool. Hope that makes sense.

I really liked Kit for 16mth old DS but DH would not have it as he's from Glasgow and he says in Gladgow it's a girls name, short for Catherine. But I have always loved it since reading Kit Marlowe.

i have a jude.............and i reckon hes pretty cool :p

Jarvis
Iggy
Kit
Rupert
Inigo
Ari
Otto

Trying to think of some traditional but quirky names you two might both like...

Abraham, Asa, Aubrey, Barnabas, Benedict, Bertram, Breccan (apparently the name of a saint from Aran), Caspian, Cassius, Clement, Cosmo, Crispin, Cyrus, Edwin, Ernest, Euan, Eugene, Ezra, Fergus, Franklin, Gideon, Godfrey, Gregory, Griffith, Hadrian, Hamish, Inigo, Ioan, Isaiah, Ivan, Ivo, Ivor, Jasper, Jeremy, Jonty (Jonathan?), Josiah, Julian, Laurence/Lawrence, Lincoln, Lucian, Macsen, Magnus, Martin, Niall, Percy, Philip, Phineas, Raphael, Reuben, Robin, Rufus, Rupert, Sidney, Silas, Simeon, Spencer, Stellan, Victor, Vincent, Wilbour, Willoughby, Winston, Xavier

Alexander, you can call him Alex or Sandy and OH can call him Zander.

atthewellesbecause cool is in the eye of the beholder
Some truly lovely suggestions, thanks everyone so much! Hoping we'll find our middle ground in here.

Dylan is cool name round here (though I agree, getting popular).

Just don't use the ubiquitous Thomas, James, Charlie, Harry, Joseph - all nice names but so, so many of them I really fear this lot will struggle to stand out from the crow as teenagers.

Interesting to hear the KS2 teachers views, at my dc school I definitely observe stuff that backs that viewpoint up. Slightly cool or unusual name is helpful. That and cute/good-looking and they can do no wrong. Slightly odd looking and dull name is kiss of death. Very harsh but, I guess, human nature (don't think the kids care or notie, this is the adults).

This is why I say err on the side of slightly different to way out there names, at least then they stand out if not cute (at any particular stage of course, changes at different stages i imagine)

Fonzie

btw When I hear the name Dylan I think of Dylan Thomas rather than Bob Dylan.

My 5 year old is Amos and he is super cool
How about
Victor, Hector, Otto, Bruno, Otis, Cosmo, Dougal, Struan, BAsil, Jeremiah, Lionel, Peter, Gregor, Gregory, Franklin, Bram, Zacariah, Kirk, Dylan, Monty, Walter, Quentin, James (Jimi - very cool!).

I like most of gwennan`s list! I have a ds called Laurie and get lots of positive comments about his name and he's the only one at school so never need to use his surname which is handy for labels

I also like -
Otto
Gilbert
Silas
Barney
Stanley (although getting very popular)
Huey
Jude

Amos is a cool name!

I work in a college and I've just seen an enrolment form for a boy called Zacchaeus, never heard it before!

Some great names on here. I think these are all quite 'cool' boys names

Xavier
Casper
Victor
Bruno
Felix
Monty
Quentin
Austin

Zacchaeus! Amazing! 'Zacchaeus was a very little man, and a very little man was he...'

What if your son is not cool though? If you give him a 'cool' name and he is really not cool, that will make him stand out even more. He may even be 'snotty and wet' as one poster so delightfully described the children she knows

There are different kinds of cool though. My ds is cool in a bespectacled, geeky kind of way, others are cool in other ways!

Jet, short for Jethro?
Dax?
Ace?

I heard a Zeb, short for Zebedee, the other week..

Benedict, Hector, Wilf, Stan, Ambrose, Sterling.

Agree with Clarabean, cool is different things to different people! We probably all think of cool as being slightly different things. Personally I don't care if the rest of the planet thinks my little boy is a drippy snotrag, I'll still think he's cool. Mother's prerogative!

I LOVE Laurence/Laurie.

(I actually think the fact that we all see "cool" as so different is what makes this thread so interesting - have loved reading everyone's opinions and ideas)