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?

Oh, I love a difficult naming thread!

My first thought was Miles, sorry to find it won't do.

Joe
Sol
Mark/Marc
Wolf
Jon (short for Jocelyn. Actually Joe could also be short for Jocelyn)
George

Well this thread has definitely been educational

Claude?

Educational for me too! I'm improving my French alongside my older kids, so don't get enough opportunities to learn the nuances of swearing.

In other news, I got DH with "oh Beau is so cute" earlier on - and for more than the split second I was hoping for.

Ray
Zac
Teige
Blake

Taupe?

Yes, by all means call your son Mole, excellent idea

www.babynamewizard.com/baby-name/advanced-name-finder

is quite good for finding names with a certain number of syllables

I think Mole is better than Taupe. Are French moles lighter in colour than British ones?

Lots of great suggestions.

I like Jay, Joss, Giles, Gus, Guy, Max, Miles.

Not sure whether Frank has come up?

My favourite one syllable name is Frey, which is the anglicised version of Norse god Freyr. Would be using as a middle name if baby was a boy

Isn't Frey Brentos a make of sausage rolls and pies though? That might not be good for nicknames..

Oh yes I'd not thought of that! 😂 I'd not be brave enough to use it for a first name myself anyway (just because it's so unusual).

Abe
Drew
Bram
Zane
Vaughn

Beau - does that really work in French? I don't know.

I think Max, Zach and Jude are the best of those mentioned, personally.

Seb / Sebastian

Glen?

I met a toddler called Duke yesterday.....he was bullying my toddler though so I wasn't completely enamoured...

Out of interest how many syllables do your surnames have?

We're having both surnames 2 syllables + 2 syllables

Is that too long to have more than one syllable as a first name?

Oh I have read now...yours is 7 syllable total, I see the issue!

I know someone who knows someone who has a child called Blade...

That fits all the criteria

Brice/Bryce

Have we had Joel?

Bladen to go with the Jaden/Aiden/Kayden/Kayden trend

Dale - once you get past Chip n Dale and Dale Winton associations its quite a nice name.

V excited by this thread as we will also have to find a name that can work in Ireland and England as well as with a very awkwardly hyphenated surname.

One of the things DH and I disagree on though is the short first name thing- he is firmly of the view that it is important to 'balance' a longer surname. So for example, i would argue for something like Hugh Somerville-Jackman, he would say it should be at least Alexander Somerville-Jackman. He has also pushed the idea that there should be as many syllables in the first name as the surname, which we could probably achieve with our four syllables (they are particularly clumsy syllables that we're never designed to be spoken near each other) but accept you might struggle with your seven! However, length might be something to consider again. I understand the impulse but I think sometimes if you say something out loud five to ten times you starts to 'hear' it differently- I've gone from thinking our surnames together sound insane to being quite used to the long and clunky sound they make, so am a bit more ok with adding a longer first name as a result.

In that vein, one of the unusual Irish names I love and think would travel well is Ferdia. I also really like Fionn, which is one syllable, but accept that outside Ireland it wouldn't do too well, though I feel like the French might get there faster than the English.

Similarly Shay/Se (with a fada/accute) either as a standalone or shortening of seamus or just Sean (adding mostly Irish names as there are so many names here I feel they're the only ones that haven't got as much attention).

And finally, I really like the idea of the first name alliterating with last surname, e.g. Joseph Somerville-jackman, so perhaps giving an idea of the initials might help spark some new ideas.