Opinions please - having a wobble over compromise shortlist

[Justguessing]

DH and I have completely different opinions on names, and as a result, settled on a shortlist that we don't love but are both comfortable with. We don't know if we're having a boy or girl but it's the boys shortlist that I'm now having a major wobble over (I'm 37 weeks). As I don't love any of the suggested names, it was important to me that the names were timeless. Do you think all of the following names are timeless? And which do you prefer?

Aidan
Christopher
Daniel
Harry

Ruaridh was also on the shortlist until recently but it's complicated spelling worries me.

Thank you!

Christopher, Daniel and Harry are all timeless.

You could use any combination of two of these names as a first and middle name.

Personal opinion, but I'm not keen on Aidan, it seems such a harsh sounding name.

Harry is very popular at the moment - I still think it's a great name, but it depends if you mind it being that popular.

Christopher and Daniel are both great names with a few choices of shortenings if you don't want to do the full name.

I like Aidan too, but think I prefer the others.

I had absolute had to pick one... Christopher, but known as Kit.

My DH and I have completely different opinions on names too, it is so difficult to find names we're both ok with!

From your list I think Daniel is the most timeless, and it's also the one I like best. Christopher and Harry are quite classic too but Christopher isn't so popular anymore whereas Harry is very 'now'. I wouldn't call Aidan timeless in the UK since it became more popular with the wave of trendy -ayden names but it probably is timeless in Ireland.

Would you use nicknames for Daniel and Christopher?

Agree, Christopher, Daniel and Harry are pretty timeless.
Aidan not so much, and has certain......connotations round here.
How about Adam, Luke, Edward, James, William,

Christopher and Daniel are timeless.

Harry is one of those names that every second child seems to be called.

Aiden is in no way timeless, and is will be the equivalent of Dean/Darren/Lee/Jason when I was at school.

What about Marcus, Christian, Elliot, Jonathan, Paul, Andrew, Richard, or Nicholas?

Thanks for all the replies. Aidan was my favourite up until this week when DH said he associated it with Jayden/Hayden type names (he likes them I don't). Your comments confirm my suspicions that it's not seen as timeless.

I like some of the suggestions but Dh and I have gone through the top 100 names and beyond many, many times and the above names are the only survivors!

I prefer Daniel and Christopher to any of the potential shortenings but could live with them!

Daniel is lovely. Dan is a nice diminutive than Chris though. So Daniel

Don't like Aiden at all and Harry is well, there's literally bzillions of them.

The popularity of Harry doesn't bother me too much but it's certainly a factor to consider.

Looks like Daniel and Christopher are the clear favourites.

Ruaridh should technically be pronounced Rory anyway so why not have Rory?

....and actually people learn to spell it.

Not keen on Aidan, but the rest are all lovely names - I think I like Christopher and Daniel best.

Ruairidh/Ruaraidh should at the very least be pronounced roo-ree, but it's more roo-ar-ee, in Scotland anyway. The same name does sound different in an Irish accent, however, so I guess it depends on where you are!

Here Rory is really a separate name, albeit an Anglecised version of Ruairidh, but I know many Scottish Ruairidhs, all of whom would be horrified at being called Rory! For what it's worth, the usual English translation of the Scottish Gaelic Ruairidh would be Derick.

swing - I'm scottish and in Scotland and yes, people do pronounce it Roo ry etc, but I believe it should be pronounced Rory regardless. A bit like Moray/Murray. The reason that the spelling has been anglicised to Rory is because that is the way it is said - clearly accent does vary it though.

Daniel is a lovely name.

It comes from the Gaelic words 'ruadh' and 'rìgh', meaning 'red haired' and 'king', so Rory it is not :-)

yes, but ruadh is Roa and righ is ree so Roa ree - Rory.

we are going to have to agree to differ here - many people named Ruaridh pronounce it Roo ree, I'm not going to tell them it's wrong any more that I would tell the person I met calling themselves Maw ray (Moray) instead of Murray that they are saying their name wrong :)

I think all 4 of them are fine. I'd suggest that Harry is the most popular at the moment, and that Christopher would inevitably become Chris - either of which may, or may not be an issue for you.
Daniel is probably the most timeless of all, and Dan, Danny and Daniel are all nice names.

I think Christopher is lovely and could be shortened to Kit if you'd like something other than Chris?

I don't doubt that you might have heard this pronunciation of ruadh, but I am interested to hear where? As a Gaelic speaker who has studied sociolinguistics I've never come across it, and it doesn't really make sense...in Ireland, yes, but I can't think of a Scottish dialect that would lend itself to that?

No need to come the arsey expert :o

I am from Edinburgh but have been all over Scotland and now in Stirling. I am not a native Gaelic speaker tbf but have worked with a few. I don't think I am unusual in my pronunciation and a quick google seems to be as divided in opinion as we are. As I say, I am happy to agree to differ. When I say both versions out loud, they don't really sound that different to me.

I'm really not arsey, nor an expert in anything, but really don't like it when people definitively state a pronunciation that is the Anglecised version!

The loser that I am, I also searched online, and ruadh really only is as it is said here:

www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/colinandcumberland/littleblackbook/wordbank/description.shtml

And yes, every Ruairidh must wear a yellow coat :-)

If we were in Scotland, I'd probably be less concerned over the spelling. I much prefer the pronunciation Roo-ree though.

I don't mind Kit, I'm just not sure it works well with our surname (if that even matters!).

Thanks again for all the responses.