Gosh I find boy's names dull, nevertheless I have a short list

[Artichook]

I loved naming my girls, there are so many choices for girls and you can get away with slightly unusual without sounding odd. Now I'm having a boy and it seems you have a choice of about 10 classic names that are hugely overused but lovely and after that your choices are really posh, really not, or 10 or so very "of the minute" trendy names. I'm not inspired at all.

Despite these feeling here is my list. What do people think?

Thomas - lovely, classic, way overused

Joshua - lovely, classic, but teacher SiL says the Joshua's in her class are always naughty.

Isaac - I thought this was pretty safe but a friend reacted with shock and said "you can't do that to a child"

Reuben - quite unusual, DD1 says its "weird", does this view of a 6 year old mean he will be bullied?

Frederick - Freddie, a family name, but I'm not sure.

There are lots of interesting boys names. The ones you have chosen are not though. They are all pretty boring apart from Reuben, bu that isn't exactly out there.

But the interesting names are very unusual Lemon. With girls there is a middle ground but with boys it seems to go from way overused to totally eyebrow raising. I just have to watch my 6 year old's reaction to some if the more unusual names to know it would not be easy for a son to carry off at school.

I like lots of very unusual boys names but I feel that to use any of them would be more about my needs than the child's needs.

Give OP some ideas of 'interesting' names then, lemon.

I think it maybe depends on where you live and if all boys have top ten names then it will seem 'out there' to anem your ds something else.

I could come up with a massive list of more interesting names but they wouldn't necessarily be the OPs style.

We went retro for DS - his name is very quite dated and most people would run a mile from it, but he's known by a diminutive version of it which sounds much more current. In fact, his actual name doesn't feel like his at all as it's never used. But at least he has options later in life.

I very much agree with avoiding popular, current, of-the-moment names - I am really put off these names.

Funnily enough, I have one such name - though, course, it was incredibly old-lady and dated when I was given it in the 70s. This is why going with a name that's dated now makes sense.

I love Atticus but again I'm not brave enough and again DD1 just laughs and laughs at the mere idea.

I've always loved Jared - it's a strong name and not commonly used.

"I just have to watch my 6 year old's reaction to some if the more unusual names to know it would not be easy for a son to carry off at school."

Really? We have so many different names at our school, from all over the world and the kids just accept these as the names of their mates. Are you sure it is the kids and not the parents that are a little less open-minded?

I like Freddie very, very much. I know a brother due of Fergus and Freddie. I know nice adult Freds, too - I think it's a name which ages well. Most boy's names do age well, now I come to think of it, wheras there are some girl's names (Maisie, Daisy, Mollie et al) where I think: could that woman be a high court judge without sounding absurd? and I struggle to answer 'yes!'

Patrick definitely = awesome. Sacha is nice too. I know a Jared and have recently taught one, (19yrold) - very good solid name. Is Jacob/Jake terribly popular in the UK at the moment? I've always liked it.

I like Jared, I went to school with one :)
Jake is very popular where we are. I love it (Jake Humphreys former F1) but too popular.

Why don't you give us your dream list instead of your "worried" list? Then we can see if anyone can hit on some names that you really like and saren't too "ahem" out there?

Fwiw I love family names and I think fred/freddie would be great.

And I wouldn't personally worry about names being of the moment as who ever met anyone and though "ooh that name is so 1994??!

Other suggestions

Finbar
Fiontan (since you like finn)

Random thoughts-

Declan
Oscar
Barney
Diarmuid
Paul
Ralph
John (love this and you never meet one these days)
Maurice
Harold
Leo (another favourite of mine!)

I like your list - particularly Thomas, Isaac and Reuben. I think Reuben, Isaac and Frederick/Freddie are a little 'of the moment'; they are all classic but cyclical names if you ask me. I'm not sure why but Joshua doesn't much appeal to me although I do like Josiah which is quite similar; it's probably to do with the nickname Josh. That's what puts me off Thomas too - it's a lovely name in full but Toms are ten a penny.

I don't know whether you're keen on additional suggestions but, if you are, I'd throw in the following:

Adam
Jonathan
John
Henry
George
James
Philip (Pip is a nice nickname if the thought of a baby called Phil makes you cringe)
Giles
Miles
Michael
Samuel
Robert
Robin
Matthew
Arthur

Use names.darkgreener.com/ and www.britishbabynames.com to get an idea of trends and popularity. The former shows you the change in popularity of a name from 1996 to 2010; the latter has collated names of babies announced in The Times and Telegraph and has grouped the top 200 or so baby names together, taking into account alternative ways of spelling the same name. I recommend looking at both.

What about traditional names but with less common nick names?

You've already mentioned Sacha, so how about -

Harry nn Hal
Christian nn Kit
Edward nn Ned
Dominic nn Nic
James nn Jim/Jimmy
William nn Bill
Alfred nn Fred
Hector nn Tor
Jacob nn Coby
Philip nn Pip
Nathaniel nn Nate

I have a Thomas and an Isaac so I must be a right boring bastard. Never had the cruel face when I said Isaac. Someone said it was unusual. Obviously illiterate and not aquainted with the Bible then. (we are not religious but loved the names and shortened versions. Also I have been a cub leader (always boys)and have had no bad experiences of likewise named children. As opposed to Jack, my beloved uncle's name, who was a sneaky horror. Otherwise I would've poss had a Jack regardless of how popular - none in our year)

I see quite a lot have been mentioned before, sorry!

Also, at the moment I love Sid or Stan.

I love winston.

And would adore a little albie (Albert) running around.

At the risk of outing myself I have a Matthew, a Christopher and a Martin.

We had two names to choose from depending on when the baby was born what he would best suit.

Here are the names we left and done I wanted that hubby refused point blank!!!:

Thomas
Conor
Eoghan (Irish version of Owen)
Noah
Michael
Cian
Paul
Samuel
Sebastian
Tristan

I have a Joshua - he's not naughty at all. I always get comments from the teacher about what a delight he is to have in class. So it doesn't follow that a name will mean their personality is a particular type always.

Reuben is a lovely and fairly unusual name. I love Isaac too - its pretty unusual.

I'm sending a bit of a biblical theme to the names - others that may be worth considering with a similar feel are Daniel, Nathaniel/Nate, Zachary and Gabriel.

I'm marking my place as on phone and sooo want to PM you later !!

Reuben is delightful and not too out there - liking your style !! Will message the rest later for fear of outing myself !

John known as Johnny is fab

Equally Jonty

Reuben is definitely not unusual anymore. I know about ten three and under.

I'm having the opposite problem, finding boys names really really easy and there are loads of unusual but not chavvy names to chose from, but all the girls names are over used and too girly.

Ewan? We shortlisted Aidan, Felix. (DP vetoed Felix on the grounds of the cat food but I love it) and Sean.

Kane
Merlin
oscar
Jonty
Peter
Glenn
John
Zack
Leonidus
jacob
daniel
bryan
Odin
Reuben
Hayden is nice

If you like Atticus, would Marcus be a 'safer' option?

Mind you, we have two of the 'boring' options already mentioned. I like boring. Especially as we have an away-with-the-fairies sort of surname.