Why are names so hard?! Please help us find a name for a baby boy!

[BoyNameHelpNeeded]

Baby boy is due in November and we are really struggling - I know we still have plenty of time, but we’ve been thinking about it for years to no avail.

We have a 3 syllable Polish surname beginning with “R”. We’re both British and baby will grow up in the UK, but we have Polish speaking family here and in Poland so a name that “works” in both languages is important to us, although will likely use the English version.

If possible, we’d like something that isn’t too off the wall and yoonique but also something that isn’t going to land him as one of four in a class…appreciating that most of these are already very popular or are creeping up the charts so that may not be an option!

Currently the list includes:

Caspar (English spelling)
Sebastian
Elias
Cassius or Cassian

One of us likes and the other doesn’t:
Jacob
Lucian
Roman
Nathaniel

All suggestions are welcome because we are tearing our hair out! We just keep seeing the same names over and over and nothing feels even remotely “right”.

I like Sebastian

Alexander ? Lots of diminutives to choose from.

Thanks! I do like Alexander. DH isn’t as enamoured, but it’s one for the list I think.

Sebastian, Elias, and Nathaniel are my favourites from your list

I don't know how any of these names are perceived in Poland, but how about:

Bruno
Darius
Dominic
Dorian
Emil
Fabian
Felix
Casimir
Conrad
Leon
Maximilian
Marius
Oscar
Tobias
Vincent

I know a baby Antosh. Lovely name and works well in UK

Alexander
Nicholas
Mattias
Felix

Caspar and Lucian are my favourites of yours. Would a name app like Kinder help? It works like Tinder where you each swipe through names on your phone and any you both match on add to a shared list. I’ve just looked at mine and I believe I got the English name list for free, I’d have to pay another 99p to add Polish names, but maybe it’s your first set comes free?

Caspar & Lucian are lovely

How about
Quentin
Conrad
Anton

I like Sebastian and Elias. I don't know anything about Polish names, but here are some suggestions.

Ansel
Elliot
Erik
Hugo
Julian
Liam
Magnus
Rollo
Stefan
Stellan
Victor

I like Sebastian Seb for short I also like Jacob

How about Adam, such a classic and unused name now.

Love Casper. I’d go for that. Otherwise, Arthur?

I don’t think you have to worry about any of your choices being 4 in a class these days - even 2 in a class for the very popular names is far less common anymore as there’s such a wide spread of names now (in my own DC’s class there is no repeats and actually there are only a few throughout the school - although to be fair there are quite a lot of soundalikes, think Theo/Leo, Alfie/Albie etc).

Bearing that in mind, I’d suggest international classics like William, Thomas, Joseph, Alexander, Michael and Max might work well - most of these classic names are falling down the charts. Guessing there would be spelling variations but I think those names are well known in most countries, although I’m not sure about Poland in particular - although I did read that Kacper/Caspar and Jakub/Jacob from your list are popular there and also classic Mateusz/Matthew too which I really like.

I'd avoid Zbigniew but there might be some on this list like Adam and Piotr. I knew a Piotr and he just called himself Pete. I have no idea of the Polish pronunciation.

Poland: most popular male names 2023| Statista https://share.google/LnjVsN6GBA2zYnmx8

Piotr/Peter?
Shimon

Casper is gorgeous

There are some great suggestions here, thank you to everyone.

We have a Dariusz, a Szymon, Michael/Michal, a Nico, and a Tomasz in the family so variants on those are a no go unfortunately.

I do like Maximillian and we've bounced around Max its its various permutations quite a lot, so it's back on the list.

Felix I like but it does give me slight "cat name" vibes thanks to the brand (which is irritating because it's objectively a nice sounding name).

Antosh sounds like it'll be Antosz which is a diminutive of Antoni - I quite like Antoni but alas, DH isn't a fan!

That's a great idea, thank you. We've tried one or two of these kind of apps in the past and haven't had much luck, but this one is new to me so I'll take a look

Elias and Jacob are my favourites from your list.

Casper is a gorgeous name, I think Cass is a cool nn!
Also really like Sebastian- then can use Seb or Bass.

goodluck finding a name for you baby x

I think where there a two languages involved its worth considering NOT choosing a name that has quite different pronunciation in each of the languages.

Eg Adam is pretty consistent. Presumably Jacob would be 2 different pronunciations.

I love Cassian! It's such a handsome sounding name imo

Other internationally friendly ideas that come to mind -

Leo
Marcel
Elio
Emmett
Finn
Sander
Luke
Stefan
Cole

Love Elias! And a lot of the -s/sz name variations that have been mentioned already (Mathias, Thomas, Tobias, etc).

Just wanted to throw out Thaddeus (Tadeusz) as another possibility - unusual but not unfamiliar in English, and increasingly popular in Poland. Plus likely shortened to Thad in English and Tad/Tadek in Polish - very similar pronunciations.

Krystian
Marek
Marcin
Henryk
Edward
Robert
Fabian
Adrian
Casimir
Artur
Izak
Stefan
Albin
Patryk
Tymon
Damian
Daniel
Filip
Oskar
Viktor
August
Leon
Dominik

Reggie

Philip?