Callum

[Paperstraw]

DH and I are considering this name, however we are certainly unaware of how popular or unpopular it is at the moment. We don't really know a lot of babies or kids as we just moved to a different city a few months ago so haven't exactly made a lot of friends with kids.

Have you recently met any babies/kids named Callum? How popular is it now?

Other names we like:

Fraser
Clive
Rogan
Gareth
Brogan
Boyd

And a few others...

I think @chunkyrun might be on to something.

This ‘naughty boy name’/‘chavvy’ connotation really doesn’t occur to Scottish or Irish people. It’s just a normal name that you come across in people of all ages.

But on MN (where Scottish and Irish people are resolutely fed up of defending their traditions and ways of speaking against consistent complaints about them being lesser and/or ‘American’) perfectly normal Scottish of Irish names are singled out as ‘a bit downmarket’ etc.

I totally agree with @SporadicNamechange and @chunkyrun and indeed have pointed this out on here many times before. It's almost always the Irish and Scottish names that are labelled in this way.

What about Callan?

Not so keen on Callum as it's quite popular at the moment. Fraser is lovely, especially if you have Scottish heritage.

I actually much prefer the two l spelling! It's a nice enough name.

I teach in a school in the Midlands and Callum is very popular with probably at least 10 in the school out of 400. It is a "disadvantaged" area but I darent say chavvy ! Given previous comments. I think it very much depends where you live. To me it's a very common name so if you want something a bit different I wouldn't go for it.

I have a Callum. He is 13months. We like the fact it's a name that everyone knows of but that (here where we are in London at least) is not a name that is everywhere. I've not met another Callum his age at any group we've been to, and actually don't know anyone else in real life called Callum at all.

Ignore the 'naughty name' list. Anyone, and any name, can be naughty. I work in universities and could band a few names about of students that always cause problems, does that mean everyone with that name will be like that.... Some paper probably did a crappy piece of journalism one day and a few names got tarnished from that.

Pick a name that you and your partner love, ignore the rest.

My DB is Callum (in his 20s) and my other DB is also on your boy list 😂

I’m in Scotland and they are pretty common names. When I say them with an English accent they sound so strange to me!

I don’t think they match your girls names though :(

Callum was very popular in the 90s and at the turn of the century in England so it feels quite dated to me. It's more of a classic in Scotland and Ireland. Calum looks fresher.

I really like Fraser. I don't think many people will have trouble with the spelling.

I like both Fraser and Callum. I don’t think they are too popular.

I also really like Caleb.

It is definitely extremely popular here, several in each of my children’s year groups particularly my 13 year old’s year.

Callum, Connor and Charlie are the most used names here.

I really dislike the sound of Callum, especially the UM part.

Agree that in Scotland Callum is just one of those names which has been around forever and you will find Callums of all ages from a baby to a pensioner.

It's similar to nams like Fraser, Euan, Rory, Donald, Jamie, Alistair.