Alternatives to Arthur/ Leo/ Josh/ Joshua

[Leopardpj]

We are stuck on names for our baby boy due next year!
He will have older sisters Emma and Maddie... I'm keen for him to have his own 'initial' though so E or M names are out. Ideally also not a name that ends in 'a' or 'ie' (like 'Luca' or 'Freddie') so that their names all sound different IYSWIM.
So far we like Arthur, Leo, or Josh/ Joshua, but for various annoying reasons I'm not sure we can use those names, so would love some alternative suggestions please?! Thank you!

Also do we think Finn needs to be short for something? If so what? Finley? Something else??

I think your list is great - my favourites would be Finn, Zach or William I think.

I think Kit would have been so perfect but can see why if a friend has just used it then it’s off the cards.

I don’t think Finn needs to be short for anything, it’s a stand-alone name as much as a nickname in my opinion.

If you did want it to be short for something:

Finlay / Finley
Fintan
Finian
Finbar
Finnegan

If Jacob is too popular then that rules out Noah too.

Finn is a name in its own right and doesn’t need a long form unless you particularly like Finley.

Finn
William
Zach!!

If you like the o sound how about Otto? X

I like Zachary of your shortlist - the rest are nice but very overdone

other Ideas

Emma, Maddie and

Nicholas (Nico)
Jethro
Laurence (Laurie)
Patrick
Arnold (Arnie)
Alistair
Nathaniel (Nate)
Barnaby (Barney)
Tobias or Toby
Justin
Jonah
Daniel
Rufus
Owen
Philip (Pip)

Thank you @theduchessofspork - I hadn't really thought of Toby! I quite like that (although do we think it sounds too much like a posh boys' name?!)

I like Rufus and suggested that a while ago to DH but he said it's a 'dog's name' - he has muttered this about Milo as well ?! (I promptly reminded him that he used to have a dog called Izzy but that didn't stop us using Isobel as a middle name for one of our daughters!)

@jellytots18 Otto is interesting! Had never thought of that either and have never met an Otto. Otis, yes but not Otto. Love that its a totally different sound to the other two.

Emma, Maddie and Finn
Emma, Maddie and William
Emma, Maddie and Zach
Emma, Maddie and Milo
Emma, Madde and Toby
Emma, Maddie and Otto

Finn is DH's firm favourite now @cherryassam ! I like it too, although your suggestion of Milo is really growing on me too @SummerHouse !

If we went for Finn I think I would prefer it just as 'Finn' but wonder what we would do for a middle name? They all sound a bit weird to my ears after Finn (Finn Joshua, Finn William, Finn Zachary, Finn Noah?!)

Also do people think our surname starting with 'M' makes 'William' awkward?

It's so nice to have some new/ different options to mull, I feel like I've had the
same list of three or four names for ever!

@Leopardpj I have a Finn Alexander 😊

My partners uncle is Alexander and I have a brother called Alex so worked nicely for us 😊

Finn is lovely but very popular here at least, (three baby Finns this year in our friends/family) if that's a consideration.

Emma, Maddie & Tom
Emma, Maddie & Isaac
Emma, Maddie & James
Emma, Maddie & Noah
Emma, Maddie & Ben
Emma, Maddie & Theo
Emma, Maddie & Louis

Zachary and William.

Finn Alexander is really lovely @mumtotwox ! Maybe the middle name having a few syllables and starting with a vowel is key. I'll play around with some options!!

@DrLucyVanPelt it's hard to predict which names will be super popular isn't it! I find it's quite localised, though - where we live, it's not so much the names that come top of the list nationally that are the most popular at all. I've never ever met an Oliver or an Olivia under the age of ten where we live - but we can't move for Margots, Ottilies, Sebastians, Freddies, Jacobs, and Roccos! I have to admit Noah is popular where we live, as well, though. Thanks for your suggestions. Tom is a lovely, simple idea. Gets my 'O' sound too!

Finn is lovely (although I do prefer Tom). As a middle name I like Leon.

Yes definitely variable by location! I have one you've listed and they're the only one in their year, so goes to show!

I think the longer middle works well with Finn.

Hope you settle on a lovely name, congratulations x

Emma, Maddie and Milo is VERY heavy on the 'm' sounds, especially if you have an M surname.

Love Finn.

@DrMarshaFieldstone argh I know you're right! My problem is I LOVE the M sound, all my fave girls names were M or had the M sound (Esme, Emma, Maddie, Margot, Martha, Maude) ... that's why I was keen to give this baby a different sound/ intial... but part of me thinks if I like M sounds so much then maybe just embrace it (by going for Milo?!) I actually love the alliterative sound of DD2's name with our surname - "Maddie M....." I think it's quite distinctive. Argh I can't decide. But I do agree Finn is a great option.

@DrLucyVanPelt all great names, for the record! I think these things are probably a bit locally contagious and I think we live in an area where people go for out-there names (certainly compared to ours!)- for example we have two kids locally called Dusty (!) and I also know three Marlow/ Marlowes.... even though you'd think those were super unusual names!

Hugo? Very posh sounding though imo
Oliver?
Jake? I always think one syllable names go well after a couple of two syllable names.

Also...
David
Robert
James
John/Johnathon

I don't think you can beat strong, traditional names