Louis or Jack?

[noonaah]

Can’t decide! Whichever we don’t pick will probably be the middle name. Our surname is a pretty common one beginning with T.

Louis. I've got one.

Both nice but prefer Jack

Louis.
Jack is nice but John is better.

Really don't like Louis, love Jack.

Thanks everyone! A pretty even split! Yes we’d be pronouncing it Louie, I know they’re both quite common but I love them anyway. Will keep mulling it over!

@noonaah they are both really lovely classic names I agree. Good luck picking and let us know!

Both very popular names. With a popular surname, he might share his name with lots of others. Don't know if that might cause administrative confusion?

Jack. You could have Louis as a middle name.

@Pippilangstrumpfs

Both very popular names. With a popular surname, he might share his name with lots of others. Don't know if that might cause administrative confusion?

It does and it will. It's a good idea to give an unusual or a second middle name if you have a common surname and want to use a popular first name.

I know they’re both quite common but I love them anyway

Jack and a Louis are nice names, but
as others have pointed out, with a common surname, your ds may prefer a less popular first or middle name.

We sometimes forget why we name a person? To identify them as uniquely as possible!

I like the name Jack out of the the 2. Stronger sounding but can still be cute.

Yes it is a popular name, but if it's what you like then go for it. I know someone that called their daughter Olivia (number 1 name at the time) as it was her name choice for years and so far has been the only one throughout nursery & preschool...

Louis

Hi @noonaah

Just some perspective about the names being too common. I teach in a secondary in Herts. We only have one Jack out of 210 students in our new year 7s and no Louis'!

In fact the most we have in one year group of either is 3 and that's Jacks in year 12!

I only looked as I'd love the name Jack too and have been worried about the amount but that put it in perspective for me. 😊

With Jack in particular please remember just how long it has been very popular for. It was the number one name for twelve years and only dropped out of the top five in 2019. It is less popular now and will probably pass the MN obsession with the number of children of that name in school classes but a Jack born now will enter the workplace and find himself one of many. By all means use it but if you also have a widespread surname then give him an unusual or a second middle name to help distinguish him from the others for administrative purposes.

Geeez really consider administrative purposes when you make a child bloody hell ive heard of all now!

Also all of us Sarah’s, Samantha’s, Darrens Garry, Diana’s of the 80’s seem to manage without either confusing ourselves or being confused for each other by administration either in school or work places.

In fact the problem was perhaps at school, in working places, I don’t think I’ve ever worked in job where there’s been more than one Sarah Samantha Garry Darren Sharon etc if any.

Even in school the most we had in the year was 4.

@RizzleDrizzle

Geeez really consider administrative purposes when you make a child bloody hell ive heard of all now!

Also all of us Sarah’s, Samantha’s, Darrens Garry, Diana’s of the 80’s seem to manage without either confusing ourselves or being confused for each other by administration either in school or work places.

In fact the problem was perhaps at school, in working places, I don’t think I’ve ever worked in job where there’s been more than one Sarah Samantha Garry Darren Sharon etc if any.

Even in school the most we had in the year was 4.

You think it's strange to consider something that might make your kid's life easier when choosing their name? OK.

Given that Jack is a nn for John (who knew) I would be careful it your surname is Thomas. I prefer Louis too.

Louis without question

Namechanged for this - as a 1980s Helen my experience is probably quite close to what a 2020 Jack would experience. No other Helens for the entirety of my school career, one other at university, and then absolutely millions in every workplace, all twenty years older than me. Masses of misdirected emails both professionally and personally because people are lazy about typing in email addresses and don't use the numbers / underscores etc used to distinguish unique addresses. My surname wasn't even that common so I can't imagine how bad it would have been if I were a Smith / Jones / Williams / Taylor.

I double-barrelled my surname when I married and the issue disappeared almost overnight.

Jack, classic name. Louis if you have a french surname perhaps. But I prefer Jack out of the two choices.

Geeez really consider administrative purposes when you make a child bloody hell ive heard of all now!

Would you not want to make a child's life as easy as possible? With a popular first and surname, you're harder to identify at school, at work, among friends, at your bank and government. In fact, identity theft is much easier if you share the same name with several others!

You think it's strange to consider something that might make your kid's life easier when choosing their name? OK

But it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t make the kids life easier or harder it makes no difference absolutely none Ok!

I’m both an administrator and someone with really common name for my period And a very very common surname

The current job I work in now is the first job i have ever worked in where I share my first name with any one, we both go by the short form of our name too and our desks are literally right next to each other, Only once in 5 years has post for me ended up on her desk, and to be fair the envolope only gave the long form of our name no surname. We both just went no idea, oh well. And shrugged, opened it and got on with our day. It literally didn’t make any difference to our day let alone our lives.

In fact the only time I find I’ve had any issue with confusion people is between Jackie/Jenny/jan.

So let’s make sure our kids names don’t start with the same letter as any one else. Make the kids life easier OK

And in fact that was my biggest problem in school my brother had the same initial as me so I’d often receive something that was his!

Would you not want to make a child's life as easy as possible? With a popular first and surname, you're harder to identify at school, at work, among friends, at your bank and government

Literally NEVER had any problem with the government knowing which Shelly blogs I am, because I’m the only person born in the place I was on the day I was with my name. I can garentee there would have been more than one BLOGGS family in that hospital but nope only one me, not hard.

Nope not harder to identify at school there were five Shelley’s in our year Shelly B,D, and P too but no we were never ever confused

On identity thieft that’s going to become increasingly more prevalent as we all share more data on line

No other Helens for the entirety of my school career, one other at university, and then absolutely millions in every workplace, all twenty years older than me

Literally totally the oppisite way round for me

Loads at school, even then 5 most a year, none until my current job. Never miss directed email ever. Because people aren’t stupid and can actually tell the difference between jones and smith.

I can’t generalise from my experience no nor can you generalise from yours

It would be stupid to rule out a name on a generalised experience for administration purposes.

And to get “to make your child’s life easier ok as a response is a ridiculous response

And to get “to make your child’s life easier ok as a response is a ridiculous response

I think most parents would want to make their child's life as easy as possible, and that includes finding a great and memorable name.