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Baby names

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

Marlow for a boy?

103 replies

Samzzz · 23/11/2023 16:58

What are your thoughts on Marlow James for a boy? Looking for an unusual but gentle boy name beginning with M. I already have a boy called Ezra.

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ThickSkinnedSoWhat · 23/11/2023 18:42

Awful, along with the similar variations that are popping up everywhere I.e. Arlo, Harlowe, Marlow, there is probably more. Becoming common yet increasingly cringeworthy

FayCarew · 23/11/2023 18:54

@TeaKitten , because it's sounds ridiculous to some of us.
It would be like calling a child Henley or Beaconsfield. Lovely town but not a boy's name.
A lot of people will know of Marlow - Steve Redgrave is from there, it's mentioned in Three Men in a Boat, it often gets mentioned in Food columns...

LeonardWoolf · 23/11/2023 19:00

A lot of people will know of Marlow … it's mentioned in Three Men in a Boat

I so love that you wrote this 😂 True faith in JKJ.

(I love Three Men in a Boat.)

TeaKitten · 23/11/2023 19:00

FayCarew · 23/11/2023 18:54

@TeaKitten , because it's sounds ridiculous to some of us.
It would be like calling a child Henley or Beaconsfield. Lovely town but not a boy's name.
A lot of people will know of Marlow - Steve Redgrave is from there, it's mentioned in Three Men in a Boat, it often gets mentioned in Food columns...

It sounds ridiculous to me too, so I don’t get why you are arguing with me! I added Arlo also sounds ridiculous for various reasons, which are also perfectly valid opinions. But we are arguing the same point. Henley is a pretty popular child name though, I no 3 Henley’s at my children’s school but I’ve never heard of a town called Henley. Although I’ve not heard of Marlow either so clearly we live in different parts of the country.

PotteringAlonggotkickedoutandhadtoreregister · 23/11/2023 19:02

Marlow? No.

bruffin · 23/11/2023 19:04

honeylou42 · 23/11/2023 18:27

Harlow is better

I worked in Harlow , why would anyone name their child after a dull grey town.

nameXname · 23/11/2023 19:21

Re Arlo - Most baby name sites are utter rubbish. I am sorry to be impolite but that's true. I know there is one site that says Arlo = 'fortified hill' but that is simply incorrect. The Anglo-Saxons had a great many words meaning 'strong' (as in 'fortified', including 'strong' itself ) but 'hoer', mentioned by that baby name site , is not among them. If you don't believe me you can check here: https://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk/
The Oxford English Dictionary suggests that from the late Middle Ages 'hoer' is either the name for a person who wields a garden hoe and/or (as people would have said in the past - it's offensive now and I apologise) a whore.

This baby names site is better than most, and this is what it says about Arlo; https://www.behindthename.com/name/arlo
It DOES mention a valley between hills, but 1590 is not the Middle Ages.

Marlow makes me think of the town in Bucks - incidentally, not far from Henley and its posh regatta - but also of Christopher 'Kit' Marlowe, 16th century writer of plays; also allegedly a government spy and almost certainly a whistleblower who asked politically awkward questions. He was famously quarrelsome and was murdered - perhaps deliberately - in a tavern: https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2001/jul/01/books.humanities

Arlo makes me think of the big milk and cream company, and also of the security company, as a previous poster mentioned. And of the American folk/protest singer, of course.

Arlo is also Spanish for barberry bush (berberis), and a minor name of the ancient Greek personification of law and order, but I don't know whether the word was ever used as a name for people in those countries.

Old English Translator

https://www.oldenglishtranslator.co.uk

Doveyouknow · 23/11/2023 19:30

I always think of the town and while it's nice enough I am not sure it's a place I would name a child after. Harlow would be worse though!

FayCarew · 23/11/2023 19:31

@TeaKitten , Henley is very well-known. The Regatta is part of 'The Season'.
It's like saying you've not heard of Ascot or the Chelsea Flower Show.

Only arguing because you said that Arlo and Marlow are both place names.

Baby name sites are notoriously unreliable, the MN articles included.

I don't like Arlo as a name but it seems popular.

AdoraFruitcake · 23/11/2023 19:33

I’ve never been to Marlow but it’s got to be a nicer place than Harlow. Which might end up being Arlo if you’re an Essex girl Grin.

How about John?

Teatrayderby · 23/11/2023 19:33

Jethro

Wolfpa · 23/11/2023 19:35

There are some great pubs in Marlow

TrustPenguins · 23/11/2023 19:37

Marley instead?

TeaKitten · 23/11/2023 19:44

FayCarew · 23/11/2023 19:31

@TeaKitten , Henley is very well-known. The Regatta is part of 'The Season'.
It's like saying you've not heard of Ascot or the Chelsea Flower Show.

Only arguing because you said that Arlo and Marlow are both place names.

Baby name sites are notoriously unreliable, the MN articles included.

I don't like Arlo as a name but it seems popular.

I did not say Arlo was a place name, at all. And no, Henley is clearly not as well known as Ascot, because I don’t no it. Implying I’m lying does not make you look smart. You are literally arguing with me for nothing, despite me repeating that we agreed on the name Marlow, bizarre!

TeaKitten · 23/11/2023 19:45

TrustPenguins · 23/11/2023 19:37

Marley instead?

One of most famous dead dogs there is? Is that really better?

momtoboys · 23/11/2023 19:47

I like it very much.

SabrinaThwaite · 23/11/2023 19:53

WWGDD · 23/11/2023 18:11

The problem with calling a child Reading is that it's always mispronounced

Ah yes, the well known Reading Reading conundrum.

YoNoTengo · 23/11/2023 20:22

It's the name of Tom Hardy's younger son (parent at same school as him). I personally don't like it though because I grew up very near Marlow!

SaturdayGiraffe · 23/11/2023 20:32

Well, Sydney is a name and a city.

Merle, Merlin, Mervyn, Morty?

WhenSheWasBadshewasawesome · 23/11/2023 20:44

First thought was oh like Christopher Marlowe
Then realised it wasn't spelled that way.
Then thought I bet at least one comment will mention dogs (I won!)
Marlowe I think is slightly better that Marlow, but I'd probably just go with Christopher nn kit if I was going all early modern English on ye...

CorporaINobbyNobbs · 23/11/2023 20:55

That’s who my cat is named for Whenshewasbad (Kit Marlowe…)

FayCarew · 23/11/2023 20:56

@SaturdayGiraffe , places like Sydney, Adelaide and Carolina, are named after someone not the other way round.

SaturdayGiraffe · 23/11/2023 21:00

FayCarew · 23/11/2023 20:56

@SaturdayGiraffe , places like Sydney, Adelaide and Carolina, are named after someone not the other way round.

I know a girl called London and she’s perfectly well adjusted 😂

VikingLady · 23/11/2023 21:04

I know of a couple of girl Marlowes.

Blinkityblonk · 23/11/2023 21:04

Moss (I knew a Moss a long while ago).
Marcus
Mark

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