Francis or William

[Robot278]

Which of these do you prefer? We love both but not sure which to go with..

Francis William
William Francis

William is infinitely nicer than the very wet Francis so William.

William Francis

William Francis.
I don’t know any men called Francis (I see a lot of older men during my work) that are actually called Francis. Many use their middle names as their preferred nam, some are just known as Frank.

The popularity of William puts me off. I actually love Frank

Can't you just call him Frank? It's a very well-established name in its own right.

Oooft.. Frank/Frankie or Willie/Dick…. If I had to choose Francis

I love both.

My exP is called Francis, but we called him Fran. He was anything but wet, and never got teased about his name.

My DS is called William, day to day called Will. I still love it, it’s a solid, masculine name.

We’re in a part of the U.K. though where traditional saints names like Francis wouldn’t be unusual, and William wouldn’t be used by 50% of the population, so we don’t have the problem of having 2 or 3 in each class.

I'm not a fan of Francis but think Frank or Frankie is a better alternative. I like William, it's a classic name and he'll likely go by will when he's older

William by fair. I think it's a beautiful strong name. Francis is a bit feminine in comparison to me.

William Francis

William Francis. William is an excellent name and Will/Billy are great shortenings.

William Francis - but I love the other option too so you can't go wrong!

Francis, going by Frank day to day. It's not 'wet' to my ear, in fact, I think it's strong, and quite fresh. You see it more frequently on here though.

William Francis is much nicer.

Oh DH is very happy with the comments on here. Francis was my favourite as it is a family name

Every William I have ever taught has been a bit wet and weepy.
Francis, nn Frank/Frankie by a country mile for me

William.

I can’t stand Francis, to me it’s so wet and dreary. Almost pathetic sounding. I don’t know why, I’ve always thought it.

William definitely. Francis is such a drippy feminine sounding name, don’t know why you’d do it to a kid

Francis!
I love it and love the nn choices of Frank or Frankie x

Love Francis
it’s a family name for us, and my son has it as a middle name.
I definitely don’t see it as “wet” OR “drippy” per PP as the original family Francis was an amazing figure in his lifetime. It feels to me that people don’t like boys names with close female equivalents (Frances) because perhaps they feel there is something undesirable in having any connotation with femininity in men. That’s a sad state of affairs for me - and all the more reason to choose unisex sounding names.

either way around is lovely but personally I would go with Francis William because it is more unusual.
Frankie is a very cute nickname for a toddler too, and Frank can be “worn” easily enough as a teen if desired.

lovely name either way - congratulations!

@LazJaz so nice to hear someone like the name. It is also a family name hence why I am more drawn to it.
I do like William but not as much but so many people seem to think Francis is ‘wet’

I prefer Frank or Bill to either Will/William or Francis

Francis is a fab name

If you prefer Francis then you should go for it, you'll only regret it if you go for a name you don't like based on other people's opinions. Once he is born and you use the name a few times you'll just see it as his name and you'll forget all these comments.

Agree with this
I've no idea why it does, but it just does.