Boys names are either too plain or too out there?!

[caggie3]

Why is it so hard? All the names I read on the many, many name threads are either too classic, too common, too many of them or they're too out there and seem a bit try hard/not suited beyond baby stage.

Why can I not find a single name that feels right?! What am I doing wrong?!

I was exactly the same! I had so many girls names that I liked and could find no boy names that felt right. Do you have a shortlist? It took us 5 weeks to name DS (now 11 weeks old and the name feels perfect).

Mine have really classic names but I love them. What about old biblical names that are no longer common ?
Issac
Levi

or what about
Jude

I'd recommend stepping away from baby name threads, name books, ONS lists etc. for a while as they are just names out of context and all begin to merge into one after a while (at least they did for me). Instead look for inspiration in real life - people you meet and people they talk about, characters in books, names in newspapers, people on TV (including the many names listed in the credits). There are names everywhere! For me, when names were associated with real people (or characters) I was much more likely to like them than if they were just one of hundreds of names I was reading through.

Good luck!

Just had my 4th son and we ended up using his oldest brothers middle name for his first name 😆 I agree boys names are difficult. In the end we erred more towards classic and didn’t go very out there. I felt strongly that they had to sound sensible giving their name in a job interview!!

I agree. Boys names are tricky!
A lot are quite boring or too popular for my liking. And if they are unusual they can sound a bit try-hard.
I second what a previous poster said about looking for inspiration in real life.

I looked at my family tree for ideas for our shortlist. Our son has ended up with my 4x great grandfather’s name, which we love. Good luck!

There is definitely a smaller pool of names used for boys vs girls, for example the top 10 names in 2021 were given to circa 35,000 boys and 25,000 girls respectively. Some boys names that I like that are uncommon but not unusual are:

Amos
August
Constantine
Frank
Hector
John
Lucien
Sacha
Wilbur

It might also be that you are overwhelming yourself, depending how far along you are/how old the baby is can you give names a break for a few weeks then return with fresh eyes?

I feel like I could've written this post myself!

I'm having the same problem - I have girls names I like but all boys names just feel a bit 'meh'

Stepping away from the lists and looking for inspiration in real life sounds like a good plan. I'm also trying to think about saying the names outloud in normal scenarios e.g. shouting their name at the park or registering them at the doctors! Makes them a bit more 'real'!

Definitely agree!

I think many people's taste (including mine) skews a bit more traditional for boys' names anyway.

I think the key might be finding a name that means something to you - a connection to a place or culture, a name from further back in your family, a nature name of you love the outdoors... Then it will feel more "right".

But I'm also going through the same process as you at the moment, so who knows!

I found it easier to name boys than girls.

Look outside the top 100. There are lots of lovely classic names that are neither overused or out there. For example

Conrad
Quentin
Magnus
Darius
Julius
Vincent