Classic boys names - Alex or James?

[Anonymouslyposting]

We are due to have a baby boy next week and we are so stuck on names. Current top two are James and Alexander (would be called Alex) but while I like both names I don’t love them - William and Thomas (would be Tom) are also possibilities. We would have gone with George but it’s my nephew’s name.

Any ideas? We had a list of about 10 names we loved with DD but for some reason boys names seem much harder!

James. Alexander is very popular and sounds more twee to me than James.

Can't go wrong with James, William or Thomas - timeless classics that you can't guess how old the boy/man is, their background etc plus they are slowly declining in use although they have still never left the Top 50 (so could well be the only one in their class now unlike 20/30 years ago).

While Alexander and George are technically timeless classics too (never left the top 100), they've had more highs and lows I think and I'm not quite as keen personally - George feels a touch stodgy imo (Georgie Porgy and the Rainbow puppet to me etc) and Alex is nowhere near as nice a sound as the full but long Alexander to me - and its other nn's are nicer but not as intuitive (plus I feel like I met a lot of girl Alex's in the 80's/90's which personally put me off a bit for a boy).

Sorry, apologies about George - just re-read that its your nephews name!

Edward would also be an obvious choice if you like the style of James, William, Alexander, Thomas etc. Or other classics that haven't left the top 100 - Joseph, Daniel, Charles, David, Michael.

This is interesting. We called our son James for 2 days and then changed to Alexander. Love it, he's called Alex, Al or Ali. Loads of options.

Both lovely names.

Be aware that you don’t get to choose the nickname forever. My nephew was named Alex and he’s decided he is Xander now, much to his parents’ irritation.

Both are excellent, strong, masculine names so you can’t go wrong.

Why choose John to then call him Jack...and not just Jack? Genuinely interested and not being sarky! :)

James is lovely.
Alexander and William both very nice.
What about
Henry
Robert
Jonathan
Christopher
Michael
David
Simon
Anthony
Richard

James Alexander is a lovely name.

I have a James but it gets shortened to Jimmy at school by his friends.

James is my favourite boys name. If I had a boy I'd call him that. I also like Alexander so I'd say call him James Alexander!

Another suggestion: Mark

Love Alexander (biased because I have one)...
James would also be a top choice for me, but vetoed by DH.
Also like William. Less keen on Thomas and Oscar.

Love them all but I think William would be my favourite.

Because Jack is the diminutive of John and I'd want him to have the traditional name. It's v traditional and out of fashion and I can see it doesn't make sense to most people! Although someone further up this thread was really getting in a twist about it!

James is my fav