'Weak' and 'strong' names for boys

[Comerscroft]

My friend has just made a list of boys names she consideres to be 'weak', and therefore not for her.

Timothy (= timid or Timmy the dog)
Philip
Samuel (Sammy)
Benjamin (Benny)
Stephen
Alfred (Alfie)
Walter (the wimp from Dennis the Menace)
Charles (Charlie the chimp)
Henry
Maurice
Nigel
Alan
Ian

The names she considers 'strong' and acceptable, include

David
Andrew
George
John
Michael
Kenneth
Duncan
Grant
Craig
Fergus

I thought it was interesting theat the 'weak' names all have soft consonants, whereas the 'strong' names have hard consonants, and so sound more forceful.

i think your right about the soft and hard consonants. i think some people just prefer soft/hard consonant names. i'm not convinced that they are linked to any particular personality type.

what an odd thing to spend your time doing.

now Andrew was on my (mental, not actual) 'weak' list because of the inevitability of Andy, hence Pandy

weird how our different minds work, eh?

snigger
Henry means 'home ruler' - not very weak really

Grant strong surely only because of the thug in EastEnders? Her 'strong' list looks like a roll call of 80s pop stars

also David is the name of my DH, possibly the sweetest, girliest, mushiest non-gay man you could ever wish to meet

Nevermind, at least she's having fun!

• pmsl

If my bil Andy is strong how come he lives with Mummy aged 4? And accepts her ban on girlfriends despite owning half the house?

And how come my 'weak' ds1 Samuel is stunning at Gym and was 'spotted' by a west end dancer over whitsun because of his gym and breakdancing (and has a school 1-1 for aggression (not so good obv)

What baloney!

I am not liking
David
Andrew
John
Michael
Kenneth
Duncan
Grant

or

Timothy
Benjamin
Stephen
Walter
Maurice
Nigel
Alan
Ian

34 obv

4 would be ok (although my dh tried to leave home at 3!)

I love the name David for a boy/man

a quazillion other people cant be wrong

I understand what you friend means, we arrive at our preferences somehow.

Theo, Leo, Kai etc are popular now but they sound soft and pretty, a bit like Chloe, to my ear.

I wouldn't say Kenneth was particularly strong, not Fergus, whereas Benjamin, Samuel and Henry I would.

I also think Jonathan, Alexander, Adam, type names are quite strong sounding.

Whereas Blake (Which I love, but didn't use partly because I thought it was a bit wishy washy), Ashley, Christian, Owen etc sound quite soft to me.

owen means fair warrior! Not that soft

If she likes strong then maybe she should go for something like Thor or Strontium.

Not the meaning, the sound.

Personally, I like what I class as 'proper little boys names'

Like Alex, Sam, James, Bobby, Daniel, Ben etc iyswim.

I was joking.

It's all subjective. I would swap round half of the names on the OP's lists.

I was answering gooseberry, I kind of guessed you weren't serious

DS's family nickname is Odin...
(he has a 'soft' name but isn't!)

Aah I see. Can't be too careful nowadays on Baby Names. I suggest Collander as a joke and tomorrow somebody trots off to name their son Collander Odin Trouser and I didn't explain adequately that

1 I was joking
2 It's really a girl's name

Anyway, isn't Rufus rather nice VS?

lets face it if the boy turns out to be buff, six foot plus he can be called precious and will get away with it.

Adrian, Justin, Crispin, Monty, Jonty, Adam, Simon, Robin, Tarquin, Quentin, Rupert, Benjamin, Dale, Heath, Isaac, Jeremy, Ptolemy, Oscar, Toby, Atticus, Leonard, Kit, Timothy, Piers, Albie, Orlando, Jasper, Percival, Damien, Rowan, Moses, Barnaby, Griffin, Harold, Horace, Reuben, Conrad, Lucas, Marcus, Gerald, Graham, Geoffrey, Roland, Desmond

Molly, Matilda/Tilly, Ellie, Mildred, Maud, Freya, Erin, Mia, Mya, Polly, Emma, Imogen, Bella, Ella, Faye, Tabitha, Lila, Seren, Sukie, Indigo, Zoe, Isobel, Imogen, Isla, Laura, Cora, Dora, Jemima, Joanne, Dawn, Celia, Rae, Sandra, Andrea, Cecily, Wendy, Tessa, Thea, Alice, Lettice, Candice, Libby, Lettie, Lottie, Hettie, Hattie, Kitty, Alice, Alicia, Ottilie, Nancy, Patsy, Betsy, Mitzi, Gail, Bonnie, Eden

I agree and find names soft or weak that sound soft, like
Noah
Alfie
Timmy
Maurice
Harry
Heath

Whereas strong names are those with hard consonants like
Alexander
Quentin
John
Magnus
Lucian
Nathan

Lucian should be on the soft side surely?

See, I find Lucian strong (especially the -an ending)

Louie sounds very weak however,

@Comerscroft My name is Benjamin, and I am ready to beat up anyone who tries to do the same to me. Does that sound like a weak person to you!? Besides, the name Ben means rich and wealthy. And so far I am on track. So what does that have to do with weak!!??