Help with boys names

[Whippet2]

Hi all

DH and I are really struggling to agree on a boys' name. Girls' names pretty sorted, we had lots but managed to narrow it down to a few, however boys' names are really tricky.

So far we have:

Edward
Samuel (DH not overly keen)
Alexander (I'm not convinced)
Michael (We like but don't love this)
Nicholas (Again we like but don't love this)
James (we love this but it's the name of my ex - would that be weird?)

Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated! Baby is due in a few weeks.

Love Edward, but just throwing in a few more in line with your taste (which seems nicely classic):

Thomas
Henry
Christopher
William
Benjamin
Oliver
Theodore
Arthur

Your taste is obviously very classic.

Have you tried printing off the ONS list and working down it?

There are a million Sams. It's tailing off now, but about 8 ish it peaked I'd say. James is nice but very 'loads in every generation'. I like Nicholas- classic but not used as much in this age group. Michael would fit that too.

I like Michael and Nicholas a lot.

Other suggestions:

Andrew
Jonathan
Luke
Daniel
Edmund
Patrick
William
Dominic
Robert
David
Matthew
Frederick
Gregory
Peter
Laurence
George
Joseph
Mark
Thomas
John
Anthony
Charles
Francis
Jacob
Stephen

I like Edward & Alexander best from your list

I'd choose Michael. There's not many young ones around these days.

What about Richard, Matthew or Robert?

Michael makes me think eccentric or odd (old man).
James sounds like you're trying very hard to appear posh (unless you are?).
Nicholas is lovely but will be shortened to Nic - no matter how hard you try.
Alexander is best from your list, never goes out of fashion and all Alexanders are cool.

Thanks all, definitely some lovely names there to consider. DH is a bit fussier than me so will run them past him!

fiftyshadesofgrot I see your point about Michael but I kind of like it as you don't hear of many Michaels these days....however not keen on Mike so maybe not a good idea as it's bound to be shortened.

Edward - I'm pretty ambivalent on Edward but I adore nn Ted (NOT Teddy...). Also quite like Ed for a teenager/young man.
Samuel - boring
Alexander - nice enough. Quite like nn Alex. Also know one who goes by Xander although that sounds a tad pretentious IMO
Michael - nice, not too many now
Nicholas - my favourite from your list, I like nn Nic(k)
James - fine, wouldn't say it was a posh name!

My Edward (Teddy) is 3yo and I still love the name. I think it will grow well with him iyswim.
Also love Michael, but it is bound to become Mike/Mickey.
PPs lists of suggestions have some other lovely names too.

I really like Michael, Nicholas and Alex.

I LOVE Nicholas, awesome name. Samuel is fabulous as well I have one and I do think the popularity of Samuel is fading one can hope

Not keen on Michael, it's quite dated and not in a good way. Mike is god awful.

I know three adult Michaels and they are all Michael. So it's not inevitable.

Edward is lovely, in itself, and lots if good nns.

My DS2 is Nicholas. It was on our list but on mine is was at the very end and DH had it as number one. Wnen DS2 was born he did not look like any of my top preferences but really looked like Nick! At school they always call him by his full name, though I don't mind it to be shortened. I also like the fact that he is only one Nicholas out of the whole 4 form entry year group. There are Daniels, Harries and Bens in each class, so they are called by name plus the first letter of the surname.

Thanks all. Your help is much appreciated. I'm really starting to like Nicholas and Michael a bit more now. Had intended to give family names as middle names but may stay away from that and choose a middle name to go with our first choice name.

Have you considered Micah?

Also i'll suggest...

Edgar
Lawrence / Laurence
Elliot
Jonathan
Oscar
Wyatt
Leo
Sebastian
Gregory / Gregor

From your list I like

Edward
Samuel
Alexander nn Zander
James

I like Nicholas but dislike Nick / Nicky so wouldn't use

How about Marcus?

Some great suggestions, thanks all. Not too sure about Marcus but will discuss it with DH. I'm leaning towards Nicholas at moment. We don't currently have a Nicholas in the family (I come from a v big family) and I like the idea of our DC having a name that's theirs and nobody else's.

Whippet if it helps, DP is Nicholas and he loves his name. We toyed with it for our DS, he actively didn't want to name baby after himself but he thinks it is the best boy name going!