Proper boys names to call your sons (that nobody else will use and aren't surnames or nicknames)

[LapsedPacifist]

David
Phillip
Peter
Timothy
Brian
Robert
Martin
Keith
Clive
Nigel
Geoffrey
Mark
Gordon
John
Kevin
Christopher
Alastair
Kenneth
Ronald
Andrew
Stephen
Jonathan
Anthony
Paul
Terence
Gareth
Alexander
Stuart
Darryl
Patrick
Robin
Frederick
Michael
Richard
Lawrence
Scott
Douglas
Dennis
Laurence
Roger
Craig
Frank
Raymond
Russell
Donald

[Eastpoint]

Bernard

[BananaBeforeBed]

My son's name is on the OP's list.

[YellowStripe]

Horace

Barry

[PurplePunkPrincess]

Due in June and my baby's name is on the OPs list :)

[florascotia]

Agree with 80sMum - andin Scotland, the tradition of naming child with mother's surname was fairly popular until the mid 20th century. It was part of a wider practice: first son was named after father's father; second son named after mother's family, first daughter named after a grandmother's first name, or a female version of a grandfather's name, such as 'Donaldina').. Not everyone followed tradition of course.

People in the past also named babies after celebrities/heroes: Clive, Nelson, Stanley.

From OP's list, as well as surnames already mentioned, Keith and Gordon were originally surnames, too. And Scottish!

[80sMum]

Thewhingingdefective I had the same experience. The two deeply out of fashion and under-used names I chose for DS and DD later became very popular.

Friends and family looked at me oddly when I announced DD's name - and some even said "why do you want to call her an old ladies' name?"!

DD's name was top of the list of popular girls' names a couple of years ago and DS's peaked at number 5! Just goes to prove how fashions change. I was about 25 years ahead of my time!

[80sMum]

Crossed posts Sara!

[80sMum]

It was quite common in the past for a firstborn son to be given the mother's maiden surname as a first name. Loads of names (particularly boys' names) started out as surnames.

[SimplySara]

A lot of boys names are also surnames even the ones some people consider "proper". The only difference is the proper brigade decided that they were proper enough as opposed to the the improper names. This whole proper/improper thing must die. Elitist anyone?

[Thewhingingdefective]

Don't assume nobody else will use them. The names I picked ten years ago are now as common as muck!

[Beastofburden]

True. Perhaps OP means recent swaps

[squoosh]

Yes but a name like Stuart started life as a surname until someone decided to use it as a first name.

[Beastofburden]

Yes, but they are not surnames the way the OP meant, which is, I think, only ever a surname until someone used it, weirdly, as a first name. You know, like calling someone "Watson" as a first name.

Martin is a first name as well as a surname, that's not the same thing at all.

[HolidayCriminal]

Russell is one of my family tree surnames.

(Thomas) Frank, (Tony) Martin, (Douglas) Alexander, (Benedict) Arnold, (Joseph) Conrad, (Patrick) Stuart.

Off top of my head.

I used to work with an Thomas St. Michael (St. John is a surname, too).

Famous Patricks.
Anthony people.

[somedizzywhore1804]

One of those listed is my maiden name and therefore, I can attest, definitely a surname

[itsnothingoriginal]

My DS also has one of those names but is mostly known by his nn

Good list though!

[80sMum]

Algernon
Horatio
Norman
Ethelred
Cecil

[Frontdoorstep]

My ds is called one of those names.

[TondelayoSchwarzkopf]

Alexander and Frederick are really commonly used!

[AberdeenAngusina]

Of those, I know boys under the age of ten called Alexander, Andrew, Douglas, Patrick, Stuart and John, plus Alexander, John, Frederick and Nigel as middle names. They are hardly "names that no-one else will use"
In fact, Alexander is one of the ten most popular boys names here in Scotland.

[squoosh]

And surely Frank is a nickname?

[squoosh]

I would have thought Scott, Douglas, Stuart started life as surnames.

[WhatsTheWordHummingbird]

Lawrence and Scott are on our list for dc2 if its a boy

[Beastofburden]

Are they? the only name I dont recognise is Cassian.