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!

Also my first cat was called Samson (after Samson and the church mice 🐭) so it’s a proper name

I have a 6 year old Samuel. He goes by Sammy mainly, or Sam, we use them interchangeably. I'm imagining that as he gets older he may prefer to just go by Sam, however whilst he's still so little Sammy really suits him. I love his name. We only ever use Samuel when filling out forms and it's on his birth certificate!

Oscar!

Both are excellent names. Neither pretentious nor chavvy. You can’t go wrong & whichever you pick will be the right choice.

I have a 17 year old Samuel. Sammy as a baby and toddler. Now largely known as Sam. At high school he chose to be known as Samuel. At college, he’s gone back to Sam. It’s a very adaptable name.

Sam is fine on its own.
I like Sebastian (dislike Seb) but if you like it don't be put off by your dad. He'll accept it completely once it becomes who the baby is.
Other ideas of similar vibe:
Maximilian (max)
Felix
Nathaniel (nate)
Christopher (kit)
Philip (pip)
Tobias (toby)

Sam. A million nos to Sebby.

Seb/by makes me think of sebum and seborrhea.

Seb sounds like sebaceous (oily) such an unattractive sound.

I don't love Sebastian/Seb but Sach and Bash is kind of cute..

Bash? Like bash your head

This! Gorgeous names x

I know a Bash who is 4 and gorgeous and then I guess Sebastian might suit and adult. I also like Samuel though.

Sebastian is a beautiful name. I don’t think you could have a Sebastian who isn’t hansome and cool. I also think Seb and Sebby are adorable nicknames

My Samuel is now 20 but as a newborn he was called Samuel ( I was adamant he was getting his full name! 🤣) he then became Sammy, Samson, Sam well... All sorts of things! 🤣 He is now predominantly Sam, although when he's annoyed me, he still gets the full name!
I still love it so would choose that over Sebastian

Samuel over Sebastian

Benjamin over both

Sebastian! We almost went for it but then chose something else, with Alexander as the middle name. I like Sam too, but Sebastian sounds stronger and ‘Seb’ is a good nickname. It’s classic and suits all ages.

I don’t think Sebastian is a classic like Alexander. Only a few years ago it was seen as ‘posh’, ‘pretentious’ and was outside the top 100.

I also don’t like the nicknames, Sebby or Basty

Same here. Sebastian was not mainstream until recently and it's popularity is probably something to do with F1.
Baby name explorer

I've a Sebastian. Inspired by reading Brideshead Revisited as a teen. Everyone calls him the full Sebastian, but his sister calls him Seba sometimes.

Samuel is very nice too. You can't go wrong with either.

Well each to their own. We ended up preferring Alexander over Sebastian for a middle name. But it’s still a good, strong name and timeless imo. It probably is still seen as pretentious in some places, as is Theodore and that name is absolutely ubiquitous now.

Sebastian, definitely. It's a very strong, cool and handsome name.

What's a handsome name when it's at home?
I don't like Sebastian, or think it cool. I'd expect him to either be my age and privately-educated, or under 18 with a brother called Jenson.

My oldest is called Samuel and I still love it, although he's normally Sam to me.

However, he gets called Sammy a lot, at school, by his sister, by random people. And I reallllly don't like Sammy so maybe consider if that would bother you. (although it's not really my business now, he can tell people if he doesn't like being called Sammy).

Sebastian is definitely not ‘cool’ imo

But each to their own!