Classic or dull?

[Notrobusta]

Have started to come up with a short list for girls and boys names and could do with some unbiased thoughts. Would like a classic name but don’t something that is considered a bit dull.

Girls

Elizabeth
Jennifer
Sophie
Alexandra

Boys

Joseph
Evan
Alexander
Benjamin
Matthew

Any other suggestions along these lines would be fab.

Honestly, all of the names you listed are a bit too common and boring, to my taste.
How about these :

Boys : Nathan, Matthias, Anders, Ivan, Dorian, Emil, Niels, Aaron, Max, Jonas, Josef (prefer this spelling)

Girls : Elinor, Alix, Aurore, Sasha, Marianne, Joanna

Elizabeth - like
Jennifer - like
Sophie - nope, too popular
Alexandra - love

Boys

Joseph - like
Evan - so so
Alexander - love
Benjamin - not fussed
Matthew - nope, very wet.

A little dull imo too.

How about

Antonia
Celeste
Marianne

Marcus
Conrad
Quentin

Tbh if the worst someone can say about a name is that it's "dull", you're probably ticking a lot of other boxes that you might want to be ticking.

• classic
• not trendy
• unlikely to date to much / not already dated
• easy to spell and pronounce
• internationally known
• plenty of history

Now, those might not be your priorities, and that's fine! But I don't think "dull" (in some people's minds) is actually a problem on real life.

For what it's worth, I like all your options - though for some reason I like Alexander a lot more than Alexandra. Just a personal thing I guess.

Thanks everyone. This is our 4th baby so have already used our favourite names and struggling. Trying to go for similar names to our existing children. ie traditional names that can be shortened if wanted but not too popular . Names that won’t date and are class less .

Girls: Isobel, Philippa, Julia, Louise, Catherine, Charlotte
Boys: Christopher, Felix, Andrew, Anthony, Dominic, Sebastian

They're all classic AND dull.

Elizabeth at least has nice nicknames. Really don't like the other names, especially Jennifer and Sophie.

The boys names are slightly better but I really hate Evan, and Matthew is probably the most boring name on earth.

Also I think a PP is wrong that these names don't date because I'd say Jennifer, Sophie and Matthew are all very dated.

The only girls name I like is Sophie. How about Charlotte or Alice?

Daniel or James?

And they don't all travel well abroad. Try saying Jennifer or Matthew in German or French

Alexander and Alexandra are both excellent, strong and timeless names. Neither are especially popular (depends on your cutoff). They both work well internationally and have several lovely nicknames.

I think all of those names are classic and not at all dull! Lovely choices.

Oh I really like those names.

Joseph is my fave for a boy

And I absolutely love the name Jennifer...it's such an underused classic and has good nickname potential with Jenny and Jen

I love all of those names! Sorry, not very helpful, but I don't think they're dull at all.

Sophie and Evan are my favourites.
I find Elizabeth very dull and Jennifer very dated. Alexandra is ok.
Alexander and Joseph are ok. Matthew and especially Benjamin (bunny) are not to my taste at all.
Evan is by far the nicest boys' name you list.
Personally I like classic names too. My favourites are Alice and Isaac.

Balonz... is a MN ‘classic’.

I don't think they're dull. I think they're strong and timeless.

I love Elizabeth and Alexandra. One thing about Elizabeth is that it has so many potential shortenings. Your dd could have a different nickname for each day of the week! Sophie would be my least preferred of those suggestions.

Of the boys' names, I like Alexander, Matthew and Benjamin, in that order.

What are your other DC called?

I don’t like Evan, but the remaining boys names are literally my list of possibilities for a future boy! I like all your girls names too. Great choices.

Alexandra and Alexander are both beautiful classics that don’t sound dull to me they also have lots of nn potential

We can’t use Alice or James as already family names as are William , Oliver and Edward, Christopher or Andrew.

All lovely except Evan.

What about
Eleanor
Penelope
Elspeth
Daniel
Dominic
Angus

Thanks for the suggestions I will run them past my husband. What nicknames would Alexander and Alexandra have other than the obvious Alex .

Alexandra can be:

Alex
Ally/Allie
Zandra/Zanny
Sandra
Sandy
Sasha

Or Lexi!

Also Lexi