Is Bear really that bad?

[YellowGrass]

We would love to call our child Reuben Bear, but have seen some very negative comments! Lots of people seem to be asking!

Is it really that bad? He's 4 weeks old and plan on registering him very soon.

Celeb children will be minted adults whatever they do via their parents wealth - they don't have to get a proper job and given their life is likely to involve the tabloids spying on them with long range lenses, their random monicker is the least of their problems. Please do Edward or Theodore instead and call your DS Bear all you like.

Oh wheesht. It's really unpopular on here, but I think Bear is perfectly fine as a middle name. It's very celeb/trendy ATM, especially with the recent Cheryl birth announcement, but it's hardly Adolf or something!

If you like it and the celeb Bears don't bother you, go for it. After all, you're giving him a perfectly normal, respectable first name which he can choose to go by exclusively if he wants. People suggest things like Wren and Lark and Posy and Primrose for girls all the time on here, which are just as non-traditional/cutesy as Bear IMO.

I won't be calling him Bear as a NN or anything... It'll be his middle name!

Bear Grylls is Edward.

You can call him Reuben Bear but please, please don't.
Call him Reuben Edward and call him Rooby-bear all you like at home.

Imagine him getting a doctorate / being called to the bar / becoming Prime Minister.

As it's a middle name, I don't think it matters.

Maybe do 2 middle names? Something classic to balance it

Reuben James Bear

Also if you stick another name in there it'll sound less like Rupert Bear

Yes. It's cute when he's a newborn but once he's past infant school age it'll be daft.

@MrsBadger yes, they'd call him Reuben, as will I. I won't be calling him bear as a NN! Don't know why people keep thinking I will

If we were to do 2 middle names, he'd be Reuben Nicholas Bear.

Much prefer Reuben Nicholas Bear

Not together. Definitely sounds like Rupert Bear. Cute as a little 6 month old but as a 12 year old just starting high school or a man at the alter about to get married, there will be some giggles .
It's not the worst name you could lumber him with but consider he's an adult longer than he is a baby.

See I like Reuben Nicholas Bear a lot. Reuben Bear is totally fine too.

Yeah it's a bad name unless you are talking about naming a puppy

Yes use Nicholas just to dilute the Bear. He can always pretend it's an ancestral surname.

Bear is fine in my opinion OP but you'll get a lot of haters on here. Lots of names did not used to be names until someone started using them, it's a crap argument.

It sounds similar to Rupert Bear and the other kids will call him teddy.
Do you really have to ask

Isn't it just fashionable and "cute" at the moment due to Bear Grylls?
He isn't formally know as Bear, anyway - his real name is Edward Michael Grylls. It's just a family nickname that stuck, so why don't you just do the same, call him Bear as a nickname if you want.

I agree with PP's that being called Bear officially could be really embarrassing, and I say that as a parent with an unusual name. and have kids with unusual names - both currently ranked outside the top 1000(!) by the Office for National Statistics.

If you are so stuck on Bear at least be kind to him,invent Argentinean or German ancestry and spell it Behr. at least it will look respectable.

You could always pretend you're Swedish and go for Björn - Swedish for Bear, and not an uncommon man's name there...

I don't get it. So many people on here say how middle names don't matter? And that barely anyone knows each other's middle names.

As it's an anonymous forum and you asked for opinions I'll be totally honest - I would judge someone that picked such a ridiculous name. I would automatically stereotype them as someone a bit dense and a try hard.

@KindleBueno dense? I have PhD

*a PhD

I really don't get the Bear thing. There's always been name fads, but...

And did they call you by your full name at the ceremony?