Sebastian or Samuel?

[Georgia324]

Struggling for a name for a sibling for our 4yo son Alexander. We have narrowed to Sebastian (nn Seb/Sebby) or Samuel (nn Sam), or potentially Oliver (though it’s v popular). Thoughts? I’m worried Sebastian is a bit pretentious and we can’t carry it off. I love Sam but I don’t love Samuel. Thanks!

I think Sebastian and Alexander are lovely together and both have the same level of gravitas and masculine elegance. To me Samuel is much softer and doesn’t quite match Alexander in energy? I don’t think Sebastian is pretentious, especially if you feel you can pull of Alexander, which is equally pretentious given its history of emperors!

I love them both, two of my favourite names. I’d pick Sebastian as I love Seb, it’s a very cool nn, and hits that sweet spot of being familiar but not overused.

Difficult - I feel the same way about loving friendly sounding Sam but being less bothered for Samuel (although I don’t dislike it). I love Alexander btw.

However I think most multi syllable boys names seem to get shortened, at least once they hit senior school age (and it continues into adulthood). And I much prefer Sam to Seb or Olly.

But I don’t think you have to worry about Sebastian being pretentious (it’s fairly popular across economic groups now) and equally Oliver isn’t that popular if you consider the wide spread of names being used - in fact Oliver (and names like Alexander, Samuel etc) actually stand out more now imo as most of the young boys I know have nickname-style names ending in “ie/y” or short names ending in “o”. Weirdly I do know a few young Seb’s though (must be an area thing) - but only one Olly and one Sam.

I really like both although I’m not personally a fan of Sebby (love Seb!). I also think you can get away with Sam as a standalone name rather than being short for Samuel - probably because I know a couple - I am usually someone who would avoid ‘nicknames’ as names.

Sebastian (Seb) - love it.

Both Sebastian and Samuel are great names!

I actually know brothers with the names Alexander and Sebastian.

I love Sebastian with nn Seb and it sounds great with Alexander which is my absolute favourite boys name. Both good strong names. I'm not so keen on Samuel or Sam personally.

Sam

You can't go wrong with either Sebastian or Samuel in my opinion, although I personally prefer the friendlier Samuel/Sam. If you don't love Samuel (for nn Sam) about Samson?

Samuel definitely.

Sebastian used to be unusual but has been picked up by a while new cohort in recent years (and not all elegant as has been suggested above) and is being used here, there and everywhere. Lots of Sebs and Bastians being hollered at the park.

Samuel is classic and timeless.

All very helpful comments, thank you! I guess we can’t go wrong so we’ll test both out over the coming days (DS2 is 8 days old and registration is 2 weeks today). Annoyingly I told my step-mum we were favouring Sebastian and apparently my dad hates it. I know that doesn’t matter but I am still under his clutches somehow & never want to disappoint him (though continuously do).

Alexander and Samuel sound handsome.
Alex and Sam.

Do you truly prefer Sebastian and are being put off by your Dad?

I greatly prefer Samuel. I've never known one who ever used the full name, but I'd put it on the BC.

Seb always makes me think 'sebaceous', and the full name Sebastian seems quite harsh to my ears.

Both go with Alexander. Samuel because it's equally classic. Sebastian for the same amount of syllables.

I really like Seb, it's such a cool short form, but I've never been keen on Sebastian as a full name. I agree it sounds pretentious, and 'bast' is such a harsh sound in the middle.

Personally I'd lean towards Samuel/Sam, but if he's going to be Seb day to day and just Sebastian on the BC I think that's fine.

I strongly dislike Sebastian - it reminds me of sebaceous (oily) and bastard. Also hate Seb/Sebby as it sounds so soft and unfinished.

Alexander is such a strong classic name in comparison.

While i don’t love Samuel, I’d choose it of the two.

What other strong names might you consider with Alexander, @Bluelilacbella ?

I have a Samuel - he is never called that - only Sam - in retrospect I would have just named him Sam

I like both. I know more Sams than Sebastian which would probably push me towards Sebastian.

I have a Sebastian. I call him Seb and his younger brothers call him Sebby. Still love the name.

I love both names. Sam is very popular where I live..loads of Sams. I think it's a sturdy plain name which I always think boys should have (personal view obviously). Having said that I do love Sebastian. All the Sebs and Baz's I know are gorgeous though so that might be why!!

Sebastian works better with Alexander in my opinion and I don’t think it’s too pretentious at all! I work with children and have met Sebastian’s from all backgrounds x

Samuel is much better

I too have a Samuel. Never uses his full name, should have just called him Sam!

Sebastian has become very popular over the past 10 years. That would put me off. Too many Sebs in the same year group at school.

I know a Samson and a Samwise!