What to call the boy I’m growing

[eachpeachpearplum12]

Having a tiny little boy in the summer!

DH and I both like Henry, as both of our lovely grandads were Henry. My awesome childhood cat was also Henry. Maybe not cool to be named after a cat but to be fair he was the best little cat ever. And we can just tell people the grandad story instead.. But not sure whether to use as first or middle name.

Some thoughts have been
Henry Owen - possibly current fave
Henry Lewis
Lewis Henry
Rowan Henry
Owen Henry
Alastair Henry
Patrick Henry - or vice versa for each.
Alexander Henry (one of my faves, though irritatingly have reservations as me and DH would pronounce differently I.e. Alexander vs Alexarrrnder (northern/southern)

More personal connection to Owen, Rowan and Lewis, but no dire need to use a ‘connection’ name, and keen to consider others I might not have thought of (despite having spent 6 million hours on baby name websites)

Having looked at darkergreen, ukbabynames, ons etc, I’m aware Henry is very popular everywhere, but does anyone have an inkling as to whether that feels to be rising, falling or staying the same? It’s ranked about 10 in my region. I’m not super bothered about ‘out-unusual-ing’ anyone but I’m slightly worried it’ll suddenly jump to be the next Noah or Arthur and every second boy will be Henry. How many baby Henrys do you know of? And if not cheeky to ask, what region are you based in? Is he going to be known as Henry Surname forever because there are nine in his class? I mean I guess it should be a ‘who cares’ situation.. But if everyone was to reply ‘OMG I know 5 baby Henrys born this year, how dull, so overdone’ I might re think. I’ve heard of two personally born in the last 3 years, but then I’m not really exposed to copious amounts of babies.

Also, anyone got any insights into how likely the Harry nicknaming of Henry is these days? I had an ex named this, and wouldn’t be super keen on my son ending up a Harry. I could probably make my peace with it. But I’m told it’s not commonly done anymore. Thoughts?

Sorry this got really long and boring, hopefully someone will say a name and I will say ‘Eureka’.

Eureka Henry…… hmm… has a ring to it

I agree I love Henry Owen. My favourite.

I don’t think he will be a Harry unless you introduce it. Most boys called Harry are that on the birth certificate from experience

Henry is probably not getting less popular, but it’s a classic and won’t date badly. There are no Henry’s in my daughters nursery but 4 Alfies, so you never really know.

I like Alastair Henry.

I’m in South Yorkshire and I know of 4/5 Henry’s under 6. Lovely name.
Henry George is lovely.
Henry Jack
Henry Ellis

I like Henry Owen

When deciding if you want to use Henry as a first name or a middle name, think about what you want to call him every day. His middle name will rarely come up. I wouldn’t worry about Alexander pronunciation. I know an Alexander whose parents have the pronunciation difference you have, and it’s not an issue. Odds are he’d end up as an Alex anyway.

Henry is very popular (as you say) and I don’t think the name is going anywhere anytime soon. It seems to have plateaued outside the top ten and I can see it there for a while. I watched a video on names Gen Z liked (and bear in mind that this was an international poll) but Henry was the favourite name. Names (even classic names) and Henry Arthur and George are popular while Richard, Michael and John are out of favour. Henry will fall again, but these trends tend to move slower than the ‘trendier names’.

It’s also worth considering that popular names now are used on far fewer babies than previously. Since 1996 there has been a 55% drop in the number babies given names in the top ten. The ‘five Sarahs in the class effect’ is much smaller than it used to be. Popularity is also highly localised. If you live in a city/diverse area you probably wont run across as many Henrys as you would if you lived in more rural area where names tend to be more traditional. The ONS does release regional data, but I don’t think it’s that useful as name trends tend to be more localised than that.

I wouldn’t worry about Harry. Henry seems to be pretty nickname proof these days. Most people are surprised when they find out Prince Harry is a Henry. I think Hank is also very much out of favour too.

Sorry this reply got way too long!

I don't know any baby Henrys, not a name in this area.
There aren't so many duplicate names nowadays due to many more names being used.

Well I would go for Patrick or Alistair as they are fabulous names and not overused, and have Henry in the middle.

Henry is a nice name, but there are a lot of them. I don’t think it will get more popular, but it might not get less for a while

You can’t stop him being called Harry when he’s older but that is nice too.

Alexander is rising in popularity too, but it will certainly be shortened to Alex so you probably don’t need to worry about your accents on the full name

Thanks all for your helpful replies!

@toastofthetown good to know others with the same pronunciation difference aren’t feeling too bothered by it. I do like the nicknames Alex and Xander as well.
And no not too long a reply, very helpful thankyou!

So hard to know what I’d like to call him day to day though. I’m finding it quite difficult to even imagine him being out here let alone the name! Henry has felt like the obvious choice with the family connection and also ready-made ‘ee’ ending which I do like especially for little ones.

My area is a village just outside a big town but it is semi rural I suppose and probably somewhere that would have traditional names. Local kids I know of called Charlie/Edward/George for example.

Do quite like Owen as a first name too as it’s less widely used but still well known/easy to say and spell etc. Does Owen Henry work well too? Or is the flow a bit off?

Henry Owen and Owen Henry are both really nice @eachpeachpearplum12

Rowan is my baby girl's name so it's a girl name to me but I know it's unisex. It's getting increasingly popular for girls in Scotland (where it's top 100 for girls and not boys) and America if that bothers you. Unfortunately her name gets shortened to Row all the time which I really hate and ask people not to but it's inevitable it seems. The main issue with the name has been that I didn't realise Roman with an M is THE top fastest rising boy name 📈 📈📈. Risen hundreds of places over last few years to now be top 30 in official chart and still rising, could be top 10 soon. Everywhere we go there's at least 2 baby Romans (swimming lessons, small nursery group) and there's always comments and confusion from other parents for Rowan and Roman and also Reuben. "Is that a M or a W in the middle?" gets asked a lot. I hate this but you may not mind.

I like Henry Owen or Henry Alastair

Henry Owen is a very handsome name. I only know 1 Henry and he's 4. He's also a splendid little boy...he's my nephew!

Rowan Henry

Henry Alistair ❤️

I love Henry and Alexander. I know a 5 and 8 year old Henrys. None in either of my children's school years.

Both Henry Owen and Owen Henry are gorgeous. My DH vetoed both but they’re both real favourites of mine.

I’d only say check your initials if you go Owen as middle, as a vowel in the middle can give a word if you’re unlucky… HOW, HOG, HOP, HOT etc. Maybe not a problem?

Owen Henry just gives it that little edge because Owen is under used.

I'm throwing in another suggestion: Sebastian Henry because Alexander is very popular here. Or you could use Alexis instead of Alexander so Alexis Henry or Henry Alexis.

Thank you everyone 😊 really appreciating all your thoughts

Initials - definitely a good point to consider - he would be ‘HOC’.
So nothing obviously terrible I don’t think. I guess ham hock?! I love ham though 🤷‍♀️ 😂 and I doubt it’s quite bullying fodder territory.

I think the top 3 currently are Henry Owen, Owen Henry and Rowan Henry. and they keep changing order of preference 😆 I’m not too worried about the ‘Roman’ mixup thing with Rowan. Potentially somewhat annoying but not a dealbreaker. Thanks for highlighting it for me though, bloominglovely. I also like Row as a nickname, so I’m sorry you’re hating it for your daughter- I hope it can grow on you over time as I think it’s cute. Likewise RoRo or Rolo, but I am a bit partial to a silly shortening!

Oops, posted with another account. Not sure why I’ve got two other than being a noob. 🙃

I think it's popular and lovely, but I only know one age one. Harry is a very separate name and I know many more Harrys ( my Ds is in infant school)

I think I would have used Henry if I had another boy, although first boy is a H name.

Henry Owen is lovely 🥰

I love Henry Lewis. Two of my favourite names and they sound nice together.

Henry Alexander! Very nice.

I love Henry Owen.

Owen Henry works well too.

Wrt popularity, a cautionary tale -
DD3 has an extremely popular name. There was one other girl with this name in her year in elementary school.
DD4 has an extremely unusual name. On her first day of school she met the only other girl with her name she has ever met.
The moral is, there are no guarantees.

All the four girls used different abbreviations of their names so there was never any 'Emily A, Emily B' problem.

Henry, Owen, Alastair, Patrick and Alexander are all really lovely classy timeless choices that have been in and out of the top 100 through history. Only name I'm not keen on is Rowan. Prefer for a girl but there's so many RoMans (and Reubens) these days it feels really trendy. RoWan and RoMan have both never been in the top 100 in history ever before now, when they're both now storming up the top 100, continuing to rise and exploding in popularity. RoMan looks set be top 15 in next year or so. I think those names will date (not that that's necessarily a bad thing but def a different feel to your other choices)

I know a Ronan too.

Owen Henry works. I think Henry is lovey and haven’t met any. Also love Patrick though