Timeless and elegant names - Liam or Reuben?

[SweetMeadow]

Hello, this is my first post but I’m an avid Mumsnet post reader!

I’m feeling quite stuck about deciding on names for our little boy arriving imminently!

I am really keen on a timeless and elegant name and so far, I’m only seriously considering either Reuben Oisín or Liam Oisín. Oisín would be the only middle name and I have always loved that name. I also want a name that’s not too popular - probably asking for a lot here!

I’m Irish but live in the UK. My daughter is Rosa.

Do you have a preference for those names and do you think they meet the criteria of timeless and elegant?!

Thank you so much for any thoughts!

Liam sounds a bit 1970’s council estate.

Ah there's that good old Irish prejudice! 🙄

@PegasusReturns

'Ask any teacher'' is hilarious. As though teachers were the last arbiter of good taste

You misunderstand me entirely…no suggestion that teachers are any arbiter, let alone the last, of good taste. They are however, in my experience, generally able to broadly asses personality based on name.

Josh - arrogant
Indigo - spirited
Tyler - challenging
Alfie - loud

Etc

These people are wasted as mere teachers. They should be telling fortunes at the circus!

@PegasusReturns

'Ask any teacher'' is hilarious. As though teachers were the last arbiter of good taste

You misunderstand me entirely…no suggestion that teachers are any arbiter, let alone the last, of good taste. They are however, in my experience, generally able to broadly asses personality based on name.

Josh - arrogant
Indigo - spirited
Tyler - challenging
Alfie - loud

Etc

The only thing you can ‘assess’ based on name alone is the child’s parents’ taste in names. Oh, and the class and ethnic prejudices of the ‘assessor’.

If I’d lived in Ireland I’m sure I’d have quite a different impression of the name. And indeed it might very well be a timeless and elegant name there.

However I’m answering based on my opinion, based on experiences in the country in which I live. As it happens there aren’t any actual class connotations for me (I’m not from the U.K. so that side of things is irrelevant to me).

One of my daughters has a name that I think many would consider quite common. I’m sure it’s appeared on more than one MN thread.

I liked the name and wanted to use it. So what if others might perceive it a certain way. She’s still a perfectly capable, perfectly lovely woman and as far as I can tell it’s not made her life hell or held her back in any way.

People are allowed to have opinions on things. They’re allowed to judge my choices. There’s no need to get intensely upset by it.

I vote for Oisín! Lovely name!

@PegasusReturns

You said ask any teacher. Did you forget you said that? You may need a memory test my dear

Erm your comment still doesn’t makes sense unless none of your child’s teachers ever taught anyone or anywhere else before your child, but crack on with your snark - I guess it sounded better in your head?!

It does make sense. In what way does it not make sense? Maybe you needed to spend more time with teachers when you were younger.

I like both but prefer Liam. I like it as a shortening of William though. I went to school with a few Liam's (early 00s in secondary school) but have never met a young Liam.
I like Reuben too but do know a few (aged between 4 - 12)

I work in a school & lots of my family are teachers. Fortunately racism & prejudice is more frowned upon now so Ive never heard judgement from them over a child's name.

I had never, before this thread, heard of Liam being considered a shortening of William. I thought it was a completely different name.

Agree, definitely let wouldn't describe Liam as elegant!

I really like Ulliam! I’m presuming it’s a version of William? Or is it another name entirely with a different etymology?

@lottiegarbanzo

I had never, before this thread, heard of Liam being considered a shortening of William. I thought it was a completely different name.

Lots of Liams short for William in my husband's clan, or I'd never have made the connection either.

@AllThingsServeTheBeam

Crikey . Instead of getting upset with a stranger on the internet who doesn’t like your sons name you might be better served by focusing on the fact that you like it and that’s all that matters eh?!

[quote PegasusReturns]@AllThingsServeTheBeam

Crikey . Instead of getting upset with a stranger on the internet who doesn’t like your sons name you might be better served by focusing on the fact that you like it and that’s all that matters eh?![/quote]
I'm not getting upset. I'm pointing out that you were wrong about me not making sense.

All good here my dear. Carry on with your day.

I'm not keen on Ulliam. It's one of those names that gets constantly misheard, and then people get irritated every time you correct them. People want it to be William not Ulliam, Samuel not Kemuel, Graham not Braham. I think it's unfair to saddle someone with a name than irrationally pisses off officials filling out forms. It's just unneccessary hassle.

@ABitBesotted

Liam Neeson is far more famous than Liam Gallagher, anyway.

His name is William

I'm not getting upset. I'm pointing out that you were wrong about me not making sense

Except I wasn’t. Your post was incomprehensible. You claimed teachers at your DS school would “agree with you”? On what? That it’s not timeless or nice or elegant or common? You didn’t specify your position in your post, as a result your post doesn’t make sense.

Even if we’re supposed to extrapolate from your vague musings that teachers at your DS would agree that Liam wasn’t a common name you base this assertion on your DS being the only one at the school. Did none of the teachers teach prior to your DS arriving? That’d be quite remarkable.

Liam is a lovely lovely name

@PegasusReturns

I'm not getting upset. I'm pointing out that you were wrong about me not making sense

Except I wasn’t. Your post was incomprehensible. You claimed teachers at your DS school would “agree with you”? On what? That it’s not timeless or nice or elegant or common? You didn’t specify your position in your post, as a result your post doesn’t make sense.

Even if we’re supposed to extrapolate from your vague musings that teachers at your DS would agree that Liam wasn’t a common name you base this assertion on your DS being the only one at the school. Did none of the teachers teach prior to your DS arriving? That’d be quite remarkable.

You're on glue. Read back your ramblings then come back to me on mine.

I'm older than every single teacher my DS has had.. and I'm only 31 myself. He's had 1 teacher for 2 consecutive years. 2 of them it was the first school they've ever worked at. So yeah. They'll agree it's not common.

@Nnique

I really like Ulliam! I’m presuming it’s a version of William? Or is it another name entirely with a different etymology?

Uilliam (rather than Ulliam) is the Irish version of William. Liam is derived from it. Usually Liam is used in Ireland today, Uilliam is used much more rarely. Most older Irish Liams probably had William on their birth cert, but that's changed and Liam is more popular as a standalone name now (it was at number 6 in Ireland in 2021).

forvo.com/word/uilliam/

I love Reuben, but unfortunately not with Rosa. Sounds too twinsie for me.

@LizzieAnt ah thanks - I did think surely it should be Uilliam if it’s a version of William. However I was sure I’d seen it spelt twice on the thread as I spelt it above. Should have checked! Looking back at one of those I think it was a mistype as it has 3 ‘l’s in it.

I love the older versions of traditional names, from various cultures.

No problem Nnique. I think the name came to Ireland with the Normans and developed into Uilliam from there. There's no letter w in the Irish language alphabet. Liam is now considered the Irish version of William in most cases, Uilliam is very rare here really.