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!

Leo - it's nice, I want to like it but it's too popular for me. I know 3 5 year old Leo's, two of which are in my daughters class then I also know 2 baby Leo's and a Leonardo nn Leo

Rory - I know two Rory's, one 5, one 2. I quite like it

Joshua - I actually know no children called Joshua. This is my favourite from your list, although they are all nice. I'm not the biggest fan of Josh though

I love Rory and Leo. I have a Rory and he has only just learnt to say his r's at age 4, so he was Wowy. It was cute and not an issue at all. You can't predict which sounds your child will struggle with. I know a child who says Cirrian rather than Cillian, so he can say his r's but not his l's.
Leo is a fab name but very popular, it is a cool name though and we were tempted but it sounded a bit too lion next to Rory. I'm not keen on Joshua, I dislike Josh and I know lots of Josh's my age.

I love Rory and Leo.

Not too keen on Joshua.

I love Rory and Leo is lovely too

Not keen on Joshua

Great name choices! I like Leo best, but I have one so I am biased

I really like all 3 names but in this order
Leo, Rory, Joshua.

I like cool, fun Leo despite it's popularity - and a nn could be Lev? (international variation of Leo).

Although there is nothing wrong with them, I'm less keen on the sound of Rory and Joshua personally- plus Rory feels slightly trendy to me, and Joshua the opposite (as it feels like it was very popular 20 - 30 years ago).

I prefer Rory because I know less of them! All nice names

I think the name Rory would be tricky if you lived in South Korea or somewhere else where R can be pronounced as L but I'm assuming you don't! I'm like a pp have never met a person who couldn't say their Rs

Leo and Rory are both nice.

Joshua is a nice name but I think it should go have a lie down for about 30 years and then come back all fresh and sassy.

Leo! (Biased as we have one).

We thought about Leon but I was worried the pronunciation was ambiguous (it's French too which would be Lay-on).

Can't go wrong, I like all three.

I agree that you can't predict what sounds someone could have trouble with. Sometimes it's R, sometimes TH, sometimes S. I don't know anyone who struggles with R as an adult.

Always disliked Joshua, Leo I've never seen as a proper name. I love Rory

Ooh I love Joshua!
Hate Rory, there are so many and I struggle with the Rs

@BlueDucky

Ooh I love Joshua! Hate Rory, there are so many and I struggle with the Rs

It's the two Rs close together that make it hard for me

I have a Rory, never had anyone have any trouble with pronunciation. He’s a teen now so plenty of time for one to have cropped up but everyone seems to have managed. Honestly I don’t think you can base your kids names on things like ‘some randoms might not be able to say their name properly’.

I like Joshua the best. Leo feels a bit incomplete. I know a Rory and he's a bit wet so that puts me off the name

Funnily enough i know only know 2 child Leos and zero child Rorys! I know lots of child Joshuas. Know one adult Rory and two adult Leos and the three of them are awesome so I love those names!

@SBC0511 Rory is not "a bit different" anymore - it's one of the fastest rising boys names and i know loads. I know way more baby Rory's than I know baby Joshua/Josh and that is reflected in the statistics given the number of Joshuas has been falling each and every year for the past 20 years whereas Rory has boomed, still rising , and just feels really trendy and overdone now

I like Joshua and Josh best

I know so many adults Rorys that it doesn't seem trendy to me. All the Josh/uas I know are teens and kids.

I have a Joshua and my sister has a Leo.

Like those best, but Joshua for me as I think it is a classic name and Josh is a good nn.

Don't like Rory.

Rory! I think it's lovely.

Primary school teacher here!

I like Leo or Rory. Joshua is fine... but a bit overdone. There's always one in every class. I've met a couple of Leos in recent years, but not many. And I can't remember when I last met a Rory.

Very biased as we have very similar taste and actually named our newborn Rory! All three of these were on my list, although DH didn't want Joshua or Leo.

A previous poster said Rory is really common. R names are "in" at the moment, but Rory was only 47th in the UK in 2019 in the Office of National Statistics data (Leo was 5th and Joshua was 20th). Even then, it's important to remember that names are different to when we were growing up and there were 4 Thomas or Sarah's in each class. Much more variety in names so something that is 5th most popular these days may be only 3,000 boys that year, whereas in the 80s and 90s it would've been more like 10,000 boys that year.

Leo

Also, if no one can tell, my personal bugbear with all name popularity discussion when someone will say "X name is super popular, and Y name isn't" when they are just going off their own experience and the opposite is actually true.

Just because I have met two babies called Orlando in the last 3 years and only 1 Oliver ever this does not make Orlando more popular than Oliver!