Ivor?

[DefinitelyMaybeBaby]

Hey lovelies,

Been struggling around a boy's name and tonight came up with Ivor which seemed to "click" for both of us. Arthur was #1 until now, but we weren't 100% sold.

We have considered the "the engine" connection, but it doesn't seem too relevant to our generation (I'm 25 and never seen the show) so even less likely that baby's generation will know/care about that, and DH used to work on the railway and has an affinity with trains (not in a creepy train spotter way! ha) so it's actually kind of nice in that way.

I am scottish but we live in England so I like that it has scottish heritage.

We love music so we like the Ivor Novello connection.

I read a post where someone said it was a cruel name because of "Ivor Biggun" jokes, which I don't really get. Dunno if it's my accent but that doesn't really sound like anything when I say it aloud - obviously I understand what it's meant to mean but it feels really tenuous to me. But dunno if I've got rose-tinted ears because I feel like we might have found the one!

I love how usual it is - that's been quite important to us throughout name hunting - but it's still easy to spell and say. There were under 30 in the UK last year and number 976 in name charts.

Thoughts???

TIA x

obviously meant unusual not usual! haha

I'm not overly keen on it, much prefer Ivan, although I appreciate that doesn't Scottish heritage.

We actually talked about Ivan a while ago and liked they way it sounded although the main connotations seemed to be "Ivan the Terrible" or the Camerons' son who passed away - obviously both being quite sad/negative, so we parked it and pretty much forgot about it. So Ivan is not totally written off but I think I prefer Ivor for the scottish bit, and I would worry Ivan might always be mistaken for the more common Evan.

To me Ivor is Welsh, I always think of Ivor Novello, but yes I like it.

If you like Ivor you should go for it. Someone is always going to not like it or have a reason why you shouldn't use it. People made a bit of a face when we told them what we had chosen for DS1 but now they're fine with it and say they can't imagine him being anything else.

I quite like it had never thought of it as being Scottish though. It has the same vibe as Arthur but as it's far less popular sounds a bit cooler to me. Ivor the Engine will undoubtedly be mentioned but it's hardly a terrible association.

I like Ivo too.

My dad was nicknamed Ivor, quite a lot of people called him that, so it seems a natural name to me. It was also shortened to 'Ivy' though so be aware that might happen.

I like it, although I do prefer Ivan.

I like it but prefer Ivo

Thanks! I like Ivo too, so would be happy with that as a nn but always said we would like to use the longer version of any name where that was an option. So would go for Ivor and if Ivo happened in the future then that would be cool.

Ivo is a name in its own right, separate in origin from Ivor.

I know an Ivor, it is a fabulous name.

I do get that but also think it works as a nn for Ivor.
I like Ivo but something about it I don't love as much, I think the fact it is so short and ends in a vowel makes it seem unfinished to me. It would be a good nn but I think, for me personally, Ivor works better as a full name for official stuff.

Love it!

(I also just realised when I read that back that how much I am defending Ivor and finding the positives in every post which probably says a lot about whether it is the right name for us!!!)

I think Ivor is a beautiful name, I am Scottish in Scotland as well as admiring Ivor Cutler.

As a side not on names and associations; I'm not a train spotter, nor know any but I wouldn't describe them as creepy.

I like it and much prefer it to Ivan

Puppets, thanks for your comments on Ivor. And you are totally right about my train spotters comment, when I read it back after posting I realised creepy didn't sound right and really wasn't what I mean't to say. I wondered if someone would tell me off for that! Apologies to all train spotters!
Thanks for your comments everyone, really pleased to see lots of positivity for Ivor! And the more we talk about it the more I like it.

It's not bad, but I prefer Ivo.

I'm sorry but "I've a big un" sticks in my head. My daughter has a friend called "Belle" and she gets called "Bell end" which is so sad with such a beautiful name. I like the sound of it though "Ivor"
:-)

I love it and it would be top of my list if a friend hadn't also used it!

The Engine. Sorry!

I like this name, but prefer it spelled Iver, which I think is the Scandinavian variant? To me it has a slightly different pronunciation but that might just be the way I read it in my head. I met a little Iver recently and thought it was lovely, simple but unusual.

I really like Ivor and Ivan. They would definitely be on my list for a boy.

Tbh the 'oooooh, but what about Ivor the Engine?' stuff really irritates me. I have a Winifred (obvs always Winnie) and the amount of people who said "OOOOoh, what about Winnie the Pooh?" well....yes, Winnie the Pooh exists but it's not like I'm suggesting I call my daughter Moira Hindley now is it?! lol.

Lovely name. I'm not a train spotter but know a few. They are nice people.

You've just named my top two boys names for DC2. Love them. Go for it