Are the boys names I'm considering all nicknames for male genitalia?

[IamnotwhouthinkIam]

The boys names I'm considering for my DS include William, Peter, John and Thomas (all these are family names that are important to us, so the full name would probably include at least 2 of them).

But when I mentioned my choices to someone (I know, I know...) they pointed out they are all nicknames for a penis - apparently there's some advert on the TV for a men's medical product that mentions some of them? I'd only ever heard of "Willy"- but that doesn't seem really used much as a nn for William anymore, so had no idea this could be a problem - they all seem "normal" names to me!

I suppose it's better to know now, rather than risking my son getting teased - but if you knew of, say a William John Peter or William Thomas John (for example of combinations), would you realise the connection?

“John Thomas” is a well known nickname for penis. I don’t think any of the other combinations are…?

I have no idea! Obviously Willy, but they are all totally normal and lovely names. I wouldn't worry

John Thomas is a known phrase, but it’s pretty vintage. I’ve seen local toddlers called it, so it must be losing the association. I don’t know the others except for ‘Willy’ and I think William or Bill don’t have any association.

Here’s a handy list.

Thomas John is fine! John Thomas is not...

Most Williams get nicknamed Will these days rather than Willy. Unless you already have a Dick and a Fanny I doubt anyone would be startled by William.

I have a William and have never made this connection. John Thomas maybe, but it's old school. I wouldn't worry about it. These are fine, classic names.

Thank you all for the help

No, there's no Dick or Fanny ... although another (extended) family member is called Richard!

I just had no idea there's were so many slang names for penis! Now on googling it seems that "John Thomas" is well known (I thought I'd maybe heard it somewhere) and that "Peter" might be used more in the States?

However the names all individually seem classic enough that hopefully even using them in combination won't be a problem - and thanks also for the reassurance about William, it makes me hopeful that if I do use it as a first name he'll more likely get called Will or Bill/y etc by people than Willy!

Gosh, even the words "extended family member" seem rude now - I wish I'd never gone down this slang rabbit hole! But I don't want to risk naming DS anything that could make life difficult for him and my friends comment made me a bit nervous.

Don't add Percy to the list!

I know several Williams who get teased with Willy at primary school - it's in the name so very obvious.

John Thomas is a well known name for Penis but it's not an issue with the individual names. I like John!

@Blubells

I know several Williams who get teased with Willy at primary school - it's in the name so very obvious.

John Thomas is a well known name for Penis but it's not an issue with the individual names. I like John!

Do William's get teased with "Willy" even today? - I would have thought that because the name has been top 20 for a while and Prince William is often in the media that it wouldn't happen much anymore?

I love John too but we actually have 3 of them in the families already so I'm leaning more towards that as a middle name.

No to Percy at least - that's a friends cats name to us!

You missed out Ralph, OP!

Ha! Didn't know about Ralph either - who is using/inventing all these men's names as synonyms for Penis?

Still debating William - I really adore the timeless feel of it as a first name so it was top of my list, but if most William's still get teased with "Willy" , it might not be worth the risk .

I think I was over worrying about the potential middle names though - I suppose most won't even know what they are (and as long as I don't use "John Thomas"). Thankfully Percy, Ralph and Richard aren't so much my taste anyway

I really like Peter. It’s pretty uncommon now without being out there. I’m an English teacher with a reputation d’or seeing the sexual innuendo in everything and

William is such a common name that I can't imagine 'haha willy' can be that much of an issue.

I liked Peter until someone pointed out that it was the French verb 'to fart'. I'm sure this doesn't effect Peters on a day to day basis but it's the ruined the name a bit for me.

Extended family member

I am dying at that. Honestly. The funniest thing I've read in ages.

extended family member called Dick.

Is the OP Frankie Howard?

Thanks everyone for the advice .

I think Peter is almost definitely going to be the middle name (or at least one of them if I use two) - I love that it's traditional but fairly uncommon now and hopefully as a middle choice the fart or penis meaning won't matter much. The relative I want to honour with the name also has the same surname that DS will have though, so when thinking about it more, it possibly isn't very practical as a first name choice anyway.

I agree about William being so commonplace that in theory there shouldn't be any Willy teasing... but I suppose only teachers or parents of William's would know best (and I don't know any personally to ask despite it's supposed popularity!). I did just look up the stats of William too - apparently 10 years ago more than 5000 boys a year were named it, so surely teasing can't happen very often (wondering if I'm just kidding myself as I like it so much...)

Nope not Frankie Howard! - just apparently oblivious to a lot of slang words and smutty innuendo (despite a supposed Eng Lit degree - to be fair I focused on Victorian Lit, which isn't known for it's smut). Glad I could entertain though!