Baby Boys Name: Leo, Rory or Joshua?

[SBC0511]

Hello everyone

My wife and I are expecting a baby boy in the very near future, and we’re really stuck between 3 names - Leo, Rory and Joshua.

We have pros and cons for all 3 but really struggling to decide which one to go for! We’ve been back and forth for week if not months!

I’m interested to gauge some opinions on these names, what you like/dislike about them and why and how you’d rank these names in terms of best to worst etc

Any thoughts to help make our decision that little bit easier will be greatly appreciated

Thanks!

I love Joshua and Leo - both are timeless, classic names. Rory is ok but I always think it must be a nightmare if you can’t pronounce your r’s.

I love Leo! That's by far my favourite from your list.

Leo, by far. Joshua is a bit too soft for me and Rory would be very hard to say for a lot of children - a lot of dds friends really struggle with r sounds.

I like them all but especially Rory

Leo and Rory are lovely.

I like Joshua and Leo. Leo is quite popular so I'd pick Joshua.

Josiah? Close-ish to Joshua, you can shorten it to Jo and it’s more unusual than Joshua.

Leo - ok. Bit dull in my opinion.

Rory - I like this but could be challenging. Imagine Jonathon Ross saying it. My BIL has a lisp that means he can’t say S. His first, middle and last names all have an S.

Joshua - really dull. Sorry.

We are having a Joshua in a few weeks so this is my favourite from your list.

Agree with the children pronouncing Rory as Wowey... would still sound cute when they say it though and it wouldn't be forever.

I'm not over keen on Leo.

Maybe wait until you see him. He might just suit one of your names 😊

Favourite is Rory. So what if a small majority might not pronounce it right?

Joshua is so dull, and Leo is getting too popular now

Leo - you can’t lengthen or shorten it
Yes you can. Lee, Leonardo. I know a few of different ages. One is a Leonid, the others just Leo. One gets called Leonardo quite a lot.

Rory - Different but not out there
Probably more popular than you think. Names starting with R are currently trendy. Fine unless you can't say R.

Joshua - Josh
Classic but I'm not keen. Seems a 1990s name.

Thanks for your response. Sorry I didn’t make myself overly clear. What I meant by you can’t shorten/lengthen Leo is I’m not a fan of what you can shorten/lengthen too, Lee or Leonardo etc. So it would just be Leo.

I like the idea of a short snappy (1 syllable) version of a name (Like Josh for Joshua, Ol for Oliver etc.) - not a big problem by any means, but goes in my ‘con’ column

All good names. Personally I prefer names that you can’t shorten, so Leo and Rory both work for me in that regard.

You can't control what nn your DC get at school.

I have a Ruairí and no problems with pronouncing but writing it is more difficult!

Leon (far better than Leo
Leo
Joshua
Rory

All nice names, Leo is my favourite. My friend’s DH is a Leo and he’s often simply known as “L” as a nickname.

Children’s peers determine the nickname anyway, and with boys it’s often based on their surname rather than first name IME (or something completely illogical which has nothing to do with their name at all - I know a Jack whose nickname is Pep, for some complicated football-related reason I can’t even remember now).

Thanks everyone for your input. Really interesting to see people’s different views and opinions

I like all of them. But there are so many Leos and Joshes that I would go for Rory.

I’ve only ever met one person in my life who couldn’t say their Rs.

@TatianaBis

I’ve only ever met one person in my life who couldn’t say their Rs.

This is a fair repoint actually. I also don’t really know anyone who can’t pronounce there R’s!

Leo
Rory
Joshua (not keen)

I like them all - Rory is super popular and Leo pretty popular so I’d go for Joshua.

I know a few who can't say their Rs. Would definitely not pick Rory as it would be Wowy or Vovy.