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Baby names

Find baby name inspiration and advice on the Mumsnet Baby Names forum.

James or William

52 replies

Notlong · 17/05/2022 11:53

Exactly that, James or William, both go with our surname.

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ParkheadParadise · 17/05/2022 11:55

James 100%

ElenaSt · 17/05/2022 11:56

James.

Forestcantrun · 17/05/2022 11:58

James.

RuthW · 17/05/2022 12:06

Difficult one - Wiiliam just pips it for me.

MissPocket · 17/05/2022 12:13

William

topshotta · 17/05/2022 12:17

James

HSKAT · 17/05/2022 12:17

James

BlondeEgg · 17/05/2022 12:18

Both gorgeous. It's 50/50 for me.

AntarcticTern · 17/05/2022 12:19

Love both of these! I would go for William, with James as a middle name.

toastofthetown · 17/05/2022 12:25

I prefer James, but they are both so popular and well used that it doesn’t really matter which one you choose. They are pretty equivalent. Why not wait until the baby is born and see if one suits him better?

If you are going to choose both names though, I’d choose James William over William James, as James is so overdone as a middle name.

DuchessOfSausage · 17/05/2022 12:28

James

Check if Jim/Jamie/Jimmy and Will/Bill/Billy go with the surname

Agree that James is overused as a middle name

historygeek · 17/05/2022 12:31

I've got a James and he is lovely.

abbey44 · 17/05/2022 12:32

Love both names - my son is James William 🙂

romdowa · 17/05/2022 12:33

I prefer James

Mumofgirls2017 · 17/05/2022 13:26

James

IamnotwhouthinkIam · 17/05/2022 19:55

William. I do really like both and both are on my list as I love classic, timeless boys names. William has become top for me as it has the most interesting namesakes whatever DS might be into (as it was so popular historically - from The Conqueror to Wallace, Tell, Shakespeare, Blake, Wordsworth, The Kid, Wilberforce, Pitt, Gates... it's basically endless). It's also more popular internationally so works in so many countries ("William" - this spelling is top 50/100 in at least a dozen including lots that are non English first language).

However I should probably have said James as I'd really like William to keep going down in the top 100 here now I've chosen Grin!

WakeWaterWalk · 17/05/2022 20:07

William

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 17/05/2022 20:09

William

frogswimming · 17/05/2022 20:40

Both lovely!

Trinacham · 17/05/2022 20:41

William

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 17/05/2022 20:43

I like them both, but James is the winner for me!

Daffodilsdance · 17/05/2022 20:44

no help , but my best friend has one of each ! They are both lovely names .

muddyford · 17/05/2022 20:45

William.

Emelene · 17/05/2022 20:46

I have a little William. I adore his name. It suits a baby, toddler and a grown man.
I loved James too but couldn’t use it for family reasons.

User6761 · 17/05/2022 21:27

Both classic boys names, agree with PP who says they are 'equivalent'. I would wait til baby arrives to see what suits him best. And maybe consider if the short forms of the names that you or your son might use also go with your surname (e.g. Jamie, Jimmy, Jim, Will, Billy).

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