Boys names are so hard!

[nolitetebastardescarborundo]

Hello all, we are having a little boy and just can't settle on a name. We were 100% set on Arthur (Artie probably for short), but then saw that it was the 3rd or 4th most popular name in the country. After growing up with 5 Sarahs, 3 Laurens and 5 Lauras in each school class, I'd feel a bit sorry for him if he was 'Arthur number 4' forever more! I feel like we've looked at every boys name ever, but thought someone might be able to provide some inspiration.
Our current list is:
Barnaby
Angus
Casper/Caspian
Otto
Arthur
(I also love Robin, Felix, and Rory but husband vetoed these).
Thank you!

I have just had a Rory, so I'm biased!

Regarding Arthur, there's a broader range of names now and even if a name is number 3 or 4 these days (c.4000 per year), it will be used for less children than a name that was number 3 or 4 in the 80s and 90s, when there was a relatively smaller range of names regularly chosen. E.g. in 1996, Thomas was No. 3 and was used for nearly 10,000 little boys that year.

It's only anecdotal I know, but Oliver is the most popular name in the country and has been for a few years; I only know of 1 born in the last 5-10 years (a son of one of my husband's FB friends born the same week as my DC1). Never met one in any baby clubs or had any other friends/colleagues have one in c.10 years. Whereas I have met two babies named Orlando in the last 3 years in the northern city I live in!

Basically, the chance of your little one being 1 of 4 in the same class is still pretty slim, despite the popularity. If you love Arthur, go for it!

Thanks so much @TransverseBabies, that's a really good way of thinking of it! Also I LOVE Rory, gorgeous name!

There are a lot of Arthur and Rorys, though I love both names, I think if you can find something that you love and is less common you might be happier.

I love Angus - Alistair, Kester, Hector, Hamish and Struan are other Scottish possibles

Really like Caspian, though prefer Cassian (there is also Cassius). Casper is OK.

Like Barnabas as well as Barnaby

Not mad on Felix and Otto just makes me think of Nazis

Other thoughts - Rufus, Rafe, Diggory, Nathaniel, Jerome, Calab, Patrick, Joss, Jethro, Joel, Jude, Stellan, Silas, Sebastian

Barnabas/Barnaby are lovely. Not a fan at all of Casper or Caspian.

What about Martin?

Also, we picked a name for our child that was only used 6 times in the UK the previous year. There's another child with the same name using the same childminder as us!! 😂

I have a Corin

The number 1 names are used by less than one percent of parents. Statistically, there should never be more than one of any name in the class.

I have an Isla. On her fourth school now, plus two nurseries. Never had another in her class or extra curricular activities. Only one in the extended friendship group was the year below her younger sister.

I do like Angus too but I love Arthur. I’ve got the same issues just now. We live in Scotland and our boy name for a future child has always been Harris. I looked at name popularity charts casually years ago but didn’t realise I was actually looking at the English ones so of course it didn’t feature. Since finding out our baby is a boy I’ve since looked up the Scottish charts only to discover it’s number 6 🙈 I tried for weeks to find a different name because I was adamant he wouldn’t be Harris B forever in school but everything I came up with just didn’t seem right. No matter how hard I tried I couldn’t like any other names the same! I’m a teacher and had three children in my class last year with the same name as another child. It’s awful having to call them their first name and second initial. Quite often though the ones who end up in this situation are not called any of the top 10 names. It’s just really bad luck they’ve ended up in a class with another one! So I’ve now concluded that it’s more important if you know of anyone local called that name rather than going by the name lists when they don’t seem to mean anything a lot of the time. I know of two babies in my council area called Harris but they don’t live anywhere near me (they’re friends of friends) and won’t be going to my son’s school so I think we’re just going to go for it! I’d hate to hear the name in future and think I wish I’d just used it 🤦🏼‍♀️

Christopher is always a classic

Arthur is lovely, but it is super popular now and will likely give his age away in future (Arthur's mostly seem to be 70 plus or under 10). Barnaby is lovely too but I find nn Barney a bit cartoonish (and I don't know if you could avoid it?). Equally I find the sound of Otto slightly silly (to me it's a German stereotype name). Angus is okay, nothing I can see wrong with it (just not my taste). Casper is nice but it has spelling issues. I LOVE Caspian - such a romantic, elegant yet cool sounding name. You might also like Magnus, Tristan, Ivo, Maxim, Lucian, Elias or Rufus?

Caspar

Thanks all, lots of good thoughts.

Angus is brilliant. You might also like Rupert?

We have similar lists! I also have Jonah, Ivo and Rowan on mine. Agree that you never know what will be popular when your child hits school etc. My daughter has a non top 100 name that I'd never met another of before her, but there are 3 in her year group.

@ChikiTIKI

"Also, we picked a name for our child that was only used 6 times in the UK the previous year. There's another child with the same name using the same childminder as us!! 😂"

Yes but your child is extremely unlikely to ever meet another one throughout their school and working life. Let's be honest, a child called Rory is going to come across a lot of other Rory's the name has jumped hundreds of places in charts and is one of fastest rising names. Very trendy

I LOVE Otto, Angus, Casper and Barnaby and think you should pick one of them. Very underused in comparison to Rory and yes you might come across another buy it'll be a nice surprise rather than an annoyance as those names aren't racing up too 100

How about Quentin or Magnus?

I like all of them except Caspian and Arthur.
However, friendly ghost would put me off Casper/Caspar, and the glottal stop in my neck of the woods would rule out Otto, not necessarily an issue where you are. Always liked Barnaby but dislike Barney nn which is likely. My favourite is Angus, super cute on a little one but strong on a man, and well known but not overused. It’s also stylistically versatile, somehow simultaneously a bit posh and very down to earth. Perfect.

I quite like Caspian. It’s not a unknown name but no one ever uses it. Brilliant!

LOVE Barnaby and Caspian 😍

Good list of names.

Other suggestions:
Tobias
Hugo
Douglas
Josslyn
Richard

Robert.
Torin.