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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

Original poster

Jack Daniel

65 replies

LyraLupin · 16/01/2017 23:40

Can we do this? Or is it like calling your child Chardonnay? I don't even like the drink! But want middle name to be Daniel for family reasons.

Any other suggestions greatly recieved! Boys names are difficult!

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IWantATardis · 17/01/2017 11:02

It does sound like a bit of a comedy name.

ArcheryAnnie makes a good point about other connotations, but even so, I'd reconsider.

MarmiteDoesYouGood · 17/01/2017 11:03

It's a middle name. Hardly anybody even knows other people's middle names, so I don't see a problem. If anything it' a fun ice-breaker to tell people! I'd like it!

minipie · 17/01/2017 13:26

I don't see the issue. Nobody ever gets called "firstname middlename". It's usually "firstname" or "firstname surname" or on forms it's all 3 names.

So he will only ever be Jack, or Jack [Smith], or Jack Daniel [Smith] on forms. None of those is the same as Jack Daniels.

Now if your surname was Daniels I definitely would avoid Jack...

FourKidsNotCrazyYet · 17/01/2017 13:36

Siani we have a brother and sister near us called Bailey (g) and Guinness (b) Confused

squoosh · 17/01/2017 13:53

Gabriel Byrne has a son called Jack Daniel #uselesstrivia

I think it's fine!

SquedgieBeckenheim · 17/01/2017 14:02

I'd do it if I loved those names. It's not like chardonnay where it's not a bona fide name in its own right. People also don't often get called by just their first and middle name. If your surname was Daniels, I wouldn't advocate using Jack as a first name though!

YippieKayakOtherBuckets · 17/01/2017 20:30

I agree that he'll rarely use the first name and middle name together (although I know a boy with the same initials who is known as JD).

BUT he'll have a lifetime of wry smiles and giggles every time someone looks at his passport / HR record, and if his full name is used at his wedding...

Mrs5boys · 18/01/2017 10:17

You could use Jackson Daniel instead ??

MaryAll · 18/01/2017 13:38

As much as I love the name Jack, I wouldn't use it like this.

BeyondTheStarryNight · 18/01/2017 13:40

How about Sham? Little baby Sham :)

Chocolatecake12 · 18/01/2017 13:44

Jack is very popular. He won't be the only one in his class.......
Try and find another first name if you are adamant on having Daniel as a middle name.
It obviously worries you enough to ask other opinions. When you find the right name you will know, and no matter what anyone else thinks you won't care.

HarrietVane99 · 18/01/2017 13:49

You could use Jackson Daniel instead ??

Then the Stargate fanfic will be the first hit on Google.

albertcampionscat · 18/01/2017 15:30

No. Please don't.
Charlie Daniel
Sam Daniel
Max Daniel

Loads of good options.

IWantATardis · 18/01/2017 16:50

Jack is very popular. He won't be the only one in his class.......

Not necessarily.
There's not one single Jack in DS1's whole infant school, according to the school charity teatowel that we got at Christmas.

lovelearning · 18/01/2017 16:55

Jonathan Daniel, known as Jack.

YippieKayakOtherBuckets · 18/01/2017 18:01

Jack is very popular. He won't be the only one in his class.......

Not necessarily.
There's not one single Jack in DS1's whole infant school, according to the school charity teatowel that we got at Christmas.

It's not just about his class, though. Jack has been top three in England and Wales for over twenty years now (and number one for about ten of those years), and if you look at the names.darkgreener site you can see that there were about 10,000 a year in the late 90s, tailing off gradually to just over 5,000 in 2015. That is tremendous dominance in one generation of one name. I would love to know the proportion of boys and men aged 20 and under in the UK who are named Jack - and the stats wouldn't show all of the Johns, Jonathans and Jacksons who go by Jack.

As these men leave school they are going to find themselves in mixed-age groups for the rest of their lives, in university, sports teams and workplaces which will be saturated with Jacks. There is a whole generation of boys where one name has dominated and it isn't going anywhere. It's a great name but I'd honestly dissuade anyone from using it now, especially if you have a common surname (the number of Jack Smiths in my current school is a genuine administrative nightmare).

IWantATardis · 19/01/2017 12:46

I've just had a look at the darkgreener site.

1996 is the earliest year that shows, and that's showing Jack at its most popular in the period covered. The graph shows Jack was given to just over 1.6% of all babies born in 1996. So that's a little more than 3% of all boys that year being called Jack, or about 1 in every 33 boys being a Jack.

So at peak Jack, you've got roughly 3% / 1 in every 33 boys born being a Jack. The number of Jacks born, as a proportion of babies in any one year, has been gradually dropping since 1996.

Even if the proportion of Jacks had remained at this peak rate of 3% of all babies, 1 in every 33 men you encounter being a Jack is not likely to result in men inevitably being part of a mixed age group "saturated with Jacks".

heron98 · 19/01/2017 16:18

My DH is called Jack Daniel. But Daniel is our surname.

TheNaze73 · 19/01/2017 16:29

I think it's nice.

Other than reading out the rugby XV or Cricket XI at school (and even then, it's initials) middle names don't really have much of an impact

FrozeninSummer · 20/01/2017 03:19

I know a Jack Daniel (surname). No idea if his parents thought of the connection or not - have never commented on it to them.

Among mutual friends when they announced the name we did have a "oh, ok" moment but tbh it doesn't really warrant more than a moment of recognition. Jack and Daniel are both nice names and sound nice together. The fact that it is also the name of a drink doesn't make it any less of a nice name - i know pp are joking but it's nothing at all like naming him Carling or Guinness or whatever (although come to think of it there is the name Stella).

As PP have said you very rarely hear middle names used anyway and if they are it would likely be in the context of the full name so it would be 'Jack Daniel Smith' or whatever in which case, as the names themselves aren't bad, just hearing the 2 together on their own, it wouldn't have the same impact.

If I am entirely honest I don't think I would use Jack Daniel just because I myself would be aware of the connection but if I really liked the names and was only concerned about what others thought, it wouldn't stop me.

FrozeninSummer · 20/01/2017 03:21

Sorry not clear in the post above, the Jack Daniel I know has Daniel as a middle name and then a surname - his surname isn't Daniel. So the parents have chosen to give him those 2 names.

sorryoldwoman · 20/01/2017 04:50

Bryan Daniel but I prefer the spelling as Brian

Scarydinosaurs · 20/01/2017 06:35

We have the same situation (except- we told our Daniel we were giving the baby his name as a middle name and THEN realised the Jack Daniel 'thing') so we're putting another middle name in to break it up. Inadvertently, this actually almost creates another famous name...but I stopped caring at that point 😆

BikeRunSki · 20/01/2017 07:06

I have a "famous name", although I'm a girl, my name is definitely a girl's name and my famous alter ego is a man. It's not really a problem. First name and surname, so they get used together all the time!

ferriswheel · 20/01/2017 07:07

I thought this was a thread about alcohol.

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