Bramwell, Wilfred, Digby or Atticus (yes I know…)

[Lelongducanal]

Aware all of these are a bit/a lot out there. Our elder DS is called Nathaniel and tbh I wish I’d saved his middle name for no 2 (Rowan) but too late now!

Digby (Diggy for short) - dh loves, I’m not sure
Bramwell (Bram) - I love, dh not sure, can anyone think of a good alternative long name that shortens to Bram?!
Atticus (Attie) - we both like but worry about associations to the character post Go Set a Watchman
Wilfred (Wilf but obvs he has the option of Fred if he chooses) - DH loves, I’m not sure and don’t like the Boris Johnson connection

Find boys names so hard! Any views? Alternatives which are unusual but less marmite?

Gilbert
Seth
Gethin
Torin
Gabriel
Josiah
Tobin
Elias
Elian
Edward/Edmund
Marcus
Nicholas
Myles
Jedd
Cooper
Caspar
Hugo
Watson
Monty

What about Sparrowhawk, or Ged?

Rowan is by far the best and you love it the most. No-one ever uses their middle name. A close friend of mine is Louise Charlotte and her sister is Charlotte. I only know this because her middle name was stated at her wedding. It's a total no issue.

Hope you kept ds as well!

Fredrick? I’m in the minority and cannot stand the name Wilfred or ‘Wilf’

Our golden retriever was called Digby

Lysander
Jared
Darius
Cyrus
Jerome

I have to admit that I’m not too keen on these, sorry, However I absolutely love Isaac and Benjamin from pp suggestions. (I also really like Nathaniel).

If you like Diggy what about Ignatius or Sigmund for Iggy or Ziggy ? Big names but cool nicknames! And still better than Digby imo.

Blimey, amazed by how many replies and suggestions, thank you all.

I think Bramwell is a goner based on the Aldi connection, and Digby probably off the list too. Some lovely suggestions, def need to sleep on them… 10 days to go, loads of time 😅

I have a dog called Diggory which lots of people mixup as Digby. RAF Digby is a Joint Services military base near Lincoln.

Nathaniel is fab, I can see why you are struggling to match it. I put in the underused classic category and your other names (while lovely especially Bram, Wilfred and Atticus -I’m afraid Digby is a bit “cute dog” to me) don’t really fit in that category to me as they feel a bit quirkier/rarer.

Underused classic for me would be something like Maximilian in particular or maybe Owen, Dominic, Marcus etc. The type of names that are well known but for some reason only occasionally enter the Top 100 historically.

Exactly! Appreciate the love for Nathaniel, it is a great name and surprisingly hard to match. It has a softer sound than a lot of boys names which I love as well.

Definitely has a softer sound - in fact the first name I thought of was Gabriel but that’s probably too matchy. And then softer sound/feel wise I thought of Rowan before I realised that you’d already mentioned it in your post 🤣. I don’t think reusing Rowan should be a deal breaker but Owen does have a very similar sound and fits “underused classic” like Nathaniel to me.

In terms of softer sound, I also thought of Laurence, Tristan or maybe Heath but not sure if they are your style? I also thought William or Alexander but they might be too classic and not underused enough!

Wilf is cute! And Digby. Bramwell is the brand of beans and chutney and stuff in Aldi so I’d veto it for that reason 😂

Also love Nathaniel

I think the 'th' sound softens it and is probably why Theo / Theodore became so popular. Strong but with a softness...

To my ear (and trends/popularity ignored), matches for 'Nathaniel' would include:

Gabriel
Sebastian
Elijah
Zachary
Marcus
Raphael
Isaac
Theodore
Julian
Jude
Benjamin

Was coming to say this. It's derived from Abraham (as was Bram of Bram Stoker fame). Personally I like it on its own or as Abraham. I don't generally like named with
well so not liking Bramwell

I associate Atticus with To kill a mockingbird

Some of those names are just bizarre.

Nathaniel and ..
Benedict
Jeremy
Geoffrey
Humphrey
Benjamin
Wesley
Xavier
Batholomew
Columbus
Augustus

I never did, I find it cringy really. My parents never did either.I mean using first and second names not first name in full.

My little boy is called Nathaniel, so i obviously think it's a fabulous name!!!

When we got pregnant with number 2, we struggled long and hard to find another boy's name that we loved just as much that 'worked' for us... we settled on August, nn Gus. (Having a girl, apparently, so won't be using it, which I'm a little sad about!)

I like Bram, think Abraham is my preference for a longer name for this if needs be. As PP have suggested, I also prefer Diggory to Digby!

Ah that’s a lovely combo. Congrats on your little girl 🧡 hopefully an easier naming proposition, though you may be overcome by choice!

Love Nathaniel.
Loathe Wilfred/Wilf. Bram is ok if shortened from Abraham
What about Sebastian, I think it has the same feeling as Nathaniel.

Or Angus?

We have a Wilbur. Which is both a pig and a dogs name. As well as Wilbur, he gets called:

wilbs
will
willis
wubwub (when he was a baby - poor kid)
and Willy by his grandfather who knows better.

we love his name. It’s nice to say