When all the names you like are taken by friends and family?

[Sprockerdilerock]

I'm really struggling for a boys name. Theres loads I love but they've all been nabbed recently by people we know - Jack, Oliver, Theo, Arthur, Harry, Leo, Sam, Ben, William and Thomas to be exact!

I quite like Henry but dont love it. Has anyone got any suggestions for boys names similar to above?

Hal
Joseph
Jacob
Matthew
Matthias
Seth

I could easily believe that those are the top ten names! None of those parents could be surprised if you also used one of those names. I’d probably steer clear of close family names, but otherwise ‘nobody owns a name’.

Other suggestions;
Daniel, Quentin, George, Dominic, Toby

Kit/Christopher, Xander/Alexander, Joshua, Joel, Peter, Fergus

Lewis, Arran, Harrison are my favourite boys name at the moment, forgot I like Alexandra .

Don’t worry about the names used by others just keep looking and you will find the perfect name!! Also sometimes you choose a name then when baby comes it just does not fit well with your baby!!

Robert
Peter
James
Jonathan
Markus
George
Edward
Matthew
Albert
Alfred
Michael
Andrew
Martin
Philip
Bill
Willard
Stephen
Hugo

Alex(ander)
Max
Edward
James
Matthew
Mark
David

Scott

Use a name you like. Recently named our son one of those you mentioned as it was the only one we agreed on. Turns out it's super popular and we are both a bit meh about that. However I have what was considered an unusual name 30 years ago and I hated it. So there are pros to having a popular name. Plus no one owns a name and whenever someone has the same name as my daughter I'm thrilled.
Xxx

We used a name one of our friends had already used for their son. They didn’t mind at all. A close friend called her son the same name as my other son. I didn’t mind. As you know boy’s names aren’t easy. Family is a bit different though.

Those are all pretty common names - I think it's more of an issue if you choose the same name as a friend / family member, and it's more unusual. They won't expect to have the only boy named Thomas, Oliver, Jack etc. Personally I'd go for something more interesting anyway - the names above are all pretty boring...I really like Fraser, Aidan, Ewan / Euan... How about Finley, Dylan, Aaron, Jake, Rowan, Rory....?

Don’t worry too much about using the same name as someone you know. I understand why you would want to avoid a name as close as a cousin’s or similar, but more remote than that is fine. I named my baby almost the same name as my best friend gave hers (not at all an unusual name) and it didn’t cause any issues at all.

If you really don’t want to use a name already taken, then I might suggest James, Alexander or Albert.

Robert
Eric
Dominic
Peter
Elliot
Ethan
Owen
Percy
Nathaniel
Michael
Andrew
Christopher
Jonathan
Oscar
Frederick
Gregory
Alexander
Vincent
Stanley
Sidney
Marcus
Miles
Daniel
Mark
Lawrence
Sebastian
Isaac
James
David
Anthony
Adrian

Zachary
Fred
Luke
Robin
Charles
Jasper
Francis
Robert
Evan
Paul
Nathan

We have a Leo! Would have gone ahead with it regardless unless a sibling of mine used it as was the only name DH and I both loved.
Other contenders were Oscar, Henry, Alexander, George, Cameron, Zachary, Joshua and Freddie.

Laurence
Peter
Wilfred
Tristan
Adam

Rex
Ellis
Otis
Otto
Atticus
Miles
Harold
Linus
Ansel
Ray/Raymond
Edgar
Magnus
Phineas
Finn/Finbar
Cosmo
Quinn
Avery
Quentin
Alistair
Arlo
Elliot
Loic
Adrien
Julien
Roman
Cormac

Elliott
Max
Joshua
Matthew
Jacob
Evan
Jonah

Owen
Alex
David
Daniel
Dominic
Adam
Max
Noah
Edward
Louis
Seth
George

Sebastian
Alfie
George

You can still use one of those names though. I'd avoid any cousins names or maybe my best friends children. Other than that go for it.

Sebastian
William
Alexander
Fraser

Daniel

Tbh, I'd use my favourite name anyway 🤷‍♀️. Unless they're siblings or going to see each other daily, I wouldn't hesitate to use a name like Oliver, Leo, Theo, Jack etc. There are a lot of these around anyway. One more in their acquaintance can't offend them too much, surely

Some lovely suggestions here thanks so much!!

What about Jude? I feel like it’s a similar feel to the names you listed

Oscar
Louis
Frederick
Edward
James
Caspar
Magnus
Julian