I just threw a baby name book across the room - argh!

[Somerville]

Stupid baby name book, where the boy section is missing one syllable names.

Well... there are a few that are short for something (Matt, Nick), which I dislike on their own, and having a longer name on BC defeats the purpose.

And a few more that are just... not very dashing interesting.

Oh and others that don't fit our other essential criteria - which is not ending with the letter L and being able to work okay in both France and Ireland as well as UK.

Indulge me for a moment that the issue is my baby name book and not our (unfortunately, wholly necessary) criteria, alright?! Any ideas?

I mean Cam!

Troy
Fitz
Zeke
Kurt
Grey
Hugh
Cole
Tate

My son is called Kit. He loves his name he says it is a "whiz bang wallop" name. He's 3.5 so his word is gospel 😉. Personally I think it packs enough punch as a short stand alone name.

If he takes Seth's Hebrew meaning instead it becomes "anointed" or "chosen".

Oh, I'm not being helpful at all Somerville, sorry!

I'm going to take my wierd pronunciations and wander off to mutter them under my breath while Googling dipthongs DH claims that you're right about Conor but I stand firm on the rest

Congratulations! I was on your "going for a date with Lovely" thread. What great news.

The one syllable, French + Irish criteria makes me think you may need to go classic:-

Tom
Ben
Sam
Joe
Paul
John
(and I like Hugh . . ).

I've heard John on a young boy recently and it worked really well

Max is the best one syllable name! It even means 'Greatest' and it's timeless

How about Gus? I know a Gus who is just Gus, no longer name.

Kurt?

Clark
Dean
Scott
Gill
Rhett
Tadhg? Cool name. The French won't know what to do with it, but neither will the English, so at least it'll be fair confusion.

How about:

Louis
Hugo (my French friend has one)
Arlo - sounds the same in English/French
Max

John

There are one or two popping up. nn Jack

I don't think John would pass the dashing test Plus it's not truly bilingual as the French version is Jean (although French people obviously know the name John).

Gus
Luc
Jack
Jake/Jacques?
Marc
Ray
Piers

Oh wow, thanks for the further suggestions. DH now reading over my shoulder, and sniggering at me getting told off for a temper tantrum with the book - I'd like to assure that poster that my title is slightly hyperbolic and no books were injured in the course of this thread

We both rather like Max.
I really like Rafe but he said it would have to be written Ralph which would be too confusing in other countries.
He likes Serge.
I like Hal but not as a whole name.
We both think Gus is cute. I'll have to see if I could get my head around that as a name of its own. Also, the portly mouse from Cinderella, right?!
He likes Xav (Xavier is probabaly the name we'd choose if length was no issue at all) but it's a villain in one of my favourite novels. So no.

John nn Jack is actually rather genius, OhTheRoses because that way baby gets an official name and nn like the others... but Jack is too overused around here for my taste.

Are there any other 1 syb names that have a traditional, and also 1 syb, nn? The only one we can think of is James to Jim or Jem, which is too much like one of older siblings nns.

Raines
Tadgh, whilst cute, is very much an insult where my extended family live.

Ooh loving Serge!!

Wasn't there a famous Serge in the '60s?

Jules is a name that is coming back in France - as in Jules Verne. The only one I can think of here is Jules Holland. (Otherwise we have Jamie Oliver's wife )

I think when you talk about siblings as a set, you would tend to use all nicknames. I think your smallest will have two surnames, so it's ok he doesn't have a long first name like the others.

I'm saying all this because I think Kit is just the perfect name but we have the opposite problem (one syllable names sound stupid with our surname).

Sorry if these have been mentioned!

Kit
Max
Brett
Brent
Ben
Sam
Luke
Brad
Ace
Brook
Brock
Pete
Nate
Joe
John
Jack
Jet
Dan
Rhys
Beau
Finn
Greg
George
Gary
Thad
Vince
Tom
Vlad
Hugh
James
Kyle
KIan
Kai

Some of them are well awful but all I could think of!

Wilf
Rio
Bill

Max would probably be my choice though!

I really like Beau, Gus and Jules

1 syllable name with a 1 syllable nn?
Zeus nn Zut.
Sorry!

Are there any other 1 syb names that have a traditional, and also 1 syb, nn?

Hugh nn Shug?
George nn Dode
Jay nn J

Why are we restricted to one syllable? Why not just pick a name you like and that works in Ireland/France and ignore the other criteria?

Ross
Ged
Nairn

Why are we restricted to one syllable? Why not just pick a name you like and that works in Ireland/France and ignore the other criteria?

Because he'll have a 3 syllable and 4 syllable surname, that don't scan well. Feels like the least we can do is give him a short and snappy first name to avoid increasing the mouthful.

What about doing it the opposite way? Try looking up french names that work for UK/Ireland?

Ah okay. you can maybe still have some short snappy 2 syllable names such as?

Rory
Findlay
Cormac
Ruaridh (Ru)
Torin
Peter

I do actually know a family with an Elizabeth, Victoria, Catherine, Felicity and... Sam.

Also one with a Ferdinand, Miranda, Persephone and... Joe.

On those grounds, I'd say you're right to give your youngest a name that holds up to scrutiny.

Max or Rex at least have some claim to Biggestness and Kingishness.