Jos, Ellis or Kit?

[LooseyGoosey]

We're expecting a little boy in September and looking for a short, simple, known name, that's still fairly unusual. His middle name will be Bernard or Harry, which are family names. Our surname is 1 syllable and starts with a 'W'.

Thoughts on which you like best, any pitfalls to be aware of or brilliant other suggestions, much appreciated please!

Jos sounds like an abbreviation of Jocelyn

That’s because it is, but Jocelyn is traditionally a unisex name eg: the actor Joss Alkland was a Jocelyn (this was actually his middle name, but still a given name and not a stage name). I work with a Jos, short for Joshua.

Definitely Ellis, really cute! Eli is my faaaavourite though, I don't like Kit or Jos at all personally - Jos is a girls name to me.

Other short names for suggestions?:

Arlo
Max
Lee
Finn
Guy
Cole
Hank
Ike
Zac
Ivor
Foy
Ash
Leo
Ted
Gus

Ellis.

Kit as in sports kit or 'have you got your kit on' Not a good name imo. Also sounds like a short form for Kitty Kitten.

Jos is but sounds very nicknamey. Jocelyn? Josiah?

Kit but Christopher on BC - more options as he gets older. Both middle names go well with Christopher.

Also, all the Christophers I've ever met are Chris, that's the natural shortening. It's not Kittopher

Kit for Christopher is unusual but LONG established. Kit was Christopher Marlowe’s nickname.

Definitely Ellis.

Kit sounds like an electronic kit or rugby kit... Strange as a name imo.

Jos is nice but very short with a short surname.

Kit has been used for Christopher since Marlowe! It’s hardly a new thing.

@Poppydaisie, I’d say Kit was the shortening of Christopher long before Chris was as in, Kit Marlowe.

I like Jos, spelt Joss as pp have mentioned. Kit is nice too, but I'm not a fan of Ellis.

Somebody also mentioned Jed which is a good option too.

I absolutely love Joss, it's on our list. I'm another who prefers it with a double S, without just looks truncated or more like a nickname, to me. But I think it's adorable on a little boy and very cool on a grown man.

Kit I also love but more as a nn for Christopher.

Ellis I don't love, although I do think a two-syllable name works better with a one-syllable last name. (My husband also has a one-syllable last name and most of my favourite boys names are one-syllable, which isn't ideal.)

Joss is very cool! It makes me think of Joss Merlyn from Jamaica Inn.

Kit is a fantastic name, it doesn’t get shortened either.

I went to university with a male Joss but his was spelt with a double S.

Not personally a fan of Ellis, to me it sounds like Elles.

Not keen on Ellis, or any other name that sounds like a surname (especially if your surname could be a first name, like James, otherwise they'll forever get people putting them the wrong way around). I like Kit, but if it were me I'd hate it if people pronounced it wrongly (using a glottal stop). So for me Jos, out of those.

What about Pip, short for Phillip? Due a revival?

Ellis is the only one that doesn’t sound like a short form, so it has to be that. I like both Joss (ss) and Kit as short forms for longer names, though.

Love Ellis

@Poppyfields21

I like Joss rather than Jos, but Kit my favourite overall. Really not a fan of Ellis at all.

Those are my exact feelings, too!

I love Jos. I think of it much more as a boy’s name than a girl’sl. I imagine a sandy haired, horse riding Austin hero, galloping through the grounds of his fantastic estate, wearing those questionable trousers. Gorgeous.

Love Jos, but then I love Jos Buttler.

Kit is lovely,

Dislike Ellis. Nowhere near as nice as the other two.

I absolutely love Joss, but spelt like this. I also would assume it was for a boy (especially with ss).
I like Ellis too but not keen on Kit, although I know it's popular on here.

Joss
Kit
Don’t like Ellis

I like all 3 as names but as pp have said I’d use the full versions of Jos & Kit on the birth certificate.

I like Joss (but would spell it like this). I know one, whose full name is Josiah.

I have a Jos (now off to name change as I said my name on a previous thread 🤣). Josh just sounds like someone lisping to me now. Jos Buttler and Joss Wheedon are both Josephs. Met another Jos same age as ours on the next table to us at a zoo once, he was a Jocelyn. So I refuse to believe it’s weird 😄 can’t be that uncommon! Surprisingly it gets misheard for John a lot 🤷🏻‍♀️ But like all ‘weird’ names, decent people only need to be told once and then they have got it. It’s not hard.

Having said that I really love Kit too, and I like Ellis.