“Strong” boys names

[CampariSpritz]

Gorgeous DS arrived on Friday and we are STILL at a Brexit style impasse on his name. I love my lovely FIL’s name (Fergus) and also wanted to honour him. DH is emphatic that DS should “have his own name” so that has been ruled out. I dislike all of DH’s preferences (Ray / Frank). DH wants something that is “strong” and masculine. I want something that sounds intelligent and is not ubiquitous. I also like using family names but we have limited options.

We both like Jack very much but ruled it out as it is too popular this year.

We both quite like James if abbreviated to Jim (not Jamie or Jimmy). Jacques is also a possibilty (my father is French so there is at least a family pretext for the French spelling although I suppose he would endlessly be saying “it’s “ques”).

I loved all the “Scottish surname names” (e.g Brodie, Laclan, Laird) but they are all too out there for DH.

Any thoughts or suggestions very gratefully received......

I really like Fergus. You could use it as a middle name?

Imo strong names (a lot of those are French and English...)
Magnus, Hector, Hamish, Eric, Karl, Matthew, Michael, Nicholas, Godric, Thorfinn, Ludovic, Bernard, Justin, Ernest, Robert, Victor, Thomas, Cormac/g, Bastien, Anthony, Charles, Roman, Anatole, Henri.

Derek
Malcolm
Brian
Bruce

They're due a comeback.

Samson - can be shortened to simply Sam but sounds intelligent and in the story he had superhuman strength.

DH is a James, always has been even as a child/teen not Jamie or Jim, just James. I also like Fraser

Bruce

Thomas (Tom)
Michael (Mike)
Alexander (Alex)
Andrew
Paul.
William (Will)
Joseph (Joe)
Kevin.
Vincent.
Peter
Christopher
Connor
Conrad

I wouldn’t do Jacques. Went to school with one and he was Jac, completely disregarded the original spelling of his name.

Arthur
Henry
Edward
Felix
Sebastian
Albert

Thank you everyone: some excellent suggestions & thoughts. I particularly like Magnus & Angus. Fingers’ crossed!

Bruno
Alexander
Franklin

Is he named?
I like Magnus

I think Jim is a great name OP. What did you go for in the end?

Another suggestion in case you’ve not decided ‘Hamish’

Hi Icklepup & Schmoochy, we went full circle and end up back at Jack Fergus. We roadtested James/Jim with my in laws, but I hadn’t realised that my lovely MIL’s dad was known as Jim. He apparently was a difficult person who was very unkind to her so I really didn’t want to upset her. Also, DH was using Jimmy, which drives me mad (no offence to anyone who has a Jimmy!). I realised that it would be wearing trying to impose a particular abbreviation. Jack is strong & cannot really be abbreviated. It was the only name that we both really like (I love Magnus too but couldn’t get DH there) so I decided to get over the fact it is a top three name! Thanks for all of the suggestions.

Sorry had to laugh at
We both like Jack very much but ruled it out as it is too popular this year.
My 40 yo DH is Jack, it's never been out of fashion and it's always been super popular.
It's a fantastic name though.

Fergus is a great name! We had another DS after our Angus and I would have lovedddd to have called him Fergus but thought it might be a bit too much.

Adam
John
Alexander
Christopher

Swingingcrane, you are right, it is not exactly a new name! That said, it feels like it has become more popular. We really noticed on holiday that all the boys in the pool were either Jack, Harry or Alfie. That said, we love it & it suits him. Just have to sort out the colic now.......

I love Fergus!

Was going to suggest Fraser, Angus or Magnus as others have done.

How about Feargal.Nice nod to the gf,but its his own name.

Oh Frank is absolutely brilliant! I know you said you don't like it -- but imagine a teenage Frank? Amazing! (No boys for me, but this would be my top choice.)

Oh just saw the update -- Jack is wonderful!

I've always liked Jack, you could go really traditional and go for John/Jonathan and known as Jack, that would leave him options for the future too.

I was going to suggest Keir but saw you'd already decided :)

Lovely name. Well done, OP!