Final two boys names

[Clairebear1809]

Hi all,

I think we are down to our final two boys names for our Son due end of June.
They are Reuben and Austin.
Our potential concerns are:
Reuben - my husband's name is Ben and he worries that people will think he is named after him or that it could potentially be shorted to Ben even though that's not how it's pronounced.
Austin - although it is a name, it's also a place name. Also, it could remind people of Austin Powers or "stone cold"' Steve Austin (if you are of a certain age).

What are your thoughts on both names and our concerns?

Many thanks

Love Austin
Dislike Reuben

@Clairebear1809 I much prefer Reuben, although I understand concerns over repeating the Ben sound. I’d still go for it personally though. I think Reuben is far more likely to get ‘roobs’, in the same way girls called Ruby do, if anything than Ben as a nn although you never can truly tell.

I like Austin the best

I really like both. It would never occur to me that a little Reuben had been named after Ben. The stress on the Reu makes the names so different.

I think I would pick Austin out of the two, just because to my ears it is a bit more exciting - I imagine Austin might have a bit more of a twinkle in his eye. But Reuben sounds so very kind. I can’t imagine an unkind Reuben.

I do think a bit of Austin Powers, I admit, but I doubt those films will have much significance in the lives of babies being born now. And Austin Powers was so cool anyway! The place name wouldn’t really occur to me as Austin is perfectly established without that association.

Austin is at the top of our boys list too! Great choice xx

i prefer reuben x

Reuben is gorgeous. I'm not a fan of Austin.

Reuben is lovely

Reuben for sure! It’s lovely!

I know a lovely baby Austin, lovely choice. I've known him ages and never once thought of Austin Powers.

Although it's a place too, it's more like Victoria or Adelaide - more a name than a place.

Much prefer Austin!

My nephew gets shortened to Roo which is cute. Not a huge fan of Austin

Austin definitely.
I really dislike Reuben.

I prefer Reuben. But Austin isn’t bad.... sorry I’m on the fence.

I have a Reuben and people always shorten it to Reubs. I love Austin too - if you want something more unusual then go for that.

Austin is a great name. Reuben is more popular though, which puts me off

Austin

Thanks for all your comments. It's quite split on which is favourite so I guess that is a positive that they are both good names

I really like Reuben.

I like both but Austin is easier to say! I presume you are in the uk? In which case I think it's not such a big deal that it is a place name too, it's not like you're calling him London which would make people think of the place here.

I don't think you need to worry about him getting called Ben, that wouldn't occur to me as a nn for Reuben.

Reuben was our top choice if we were having a boy. Would probably have ended up shortened to Roo.

I like Reuben. Don't like Austin at all.

@Clairebear1809

I have a Reuben and it's rare that anyone pronounces it 'roo-ben' it's usually 'roo-bin'. So I wouldn't worry about the link to Ben.

It's an awesome name that gets loads of great comments xx

Austin is much less used than Reuben plus there are quite a lot of top 100 names that sound fairly similar to Reuben and begin with an R, so Austin feels more special to me. Plus if you look at the official statistics Austin is on a downward slope numbers wise whereas Reuben is on a massive upwards trajectory year on year.

Not keen on Reuben but do like Roo. Austin is nice.