William Bowe

[bilbowe]

Pregnant with my second child- I loved William for my first but as last name is Bowe, was put off by ‘Bilbo’- am I overthinking it or is it a real thing to be bothered by?! Had mixed reactions IRL, some saying it would be absolutely fine.

If it’s really awful, any other suggestions? I also like Louis but don’t know if L.Bowe would be setting him up as well!

@HugoYorway And you then agreed that it was popular in Sweden and Denmark and why it might be popular in African countries. But to you Sweden, Denmark and parts of Africa (plus parts of Asia, as well as Australia, New Zealand, USA, Ireland etc) don’t count as international? 🤣

No, I am not a teacher. But to honest, I hope you do not have/are not involved with children at all, since your nastiness about something as simple as a discussion about name is really quite disturbing. Having a bad day are you? I won’t engage with you further.

@ Alexandrine,I’m from one of the European countries you mention (and also speak German & French) and can assure you that the English name William is not pronounceable for most native speakers. It’s more like Vill-ee-am. And you probably know how Guillaume is pronounced! I don’t know how popular it currently is in various African ex UK colonies.

You may be biased, but William is definitely not an ‘international’ name.

We all have our personal biases @Lollylavender . I’d just love to see all the more “timeless” names used more, including William- all the boys where I live seem to be Theo, Leo, Noah etc. Short and very trendy. Personally I’d be just as happy if the OP decided to use Alexander, Thomas, Joseph etc instead. Bring back the classics! 🤣

All I can base it on is the data I’ve seen - William is definitely Top 100 in about a dozen countries (including non English speaking ones like Sweden, Denmark and Belgium etc) and seemly very well used according to colleagues in lots of African and Asian countries that we don’t have the data for (even if it is not the name they were registered with at birth). If that doesn’t count as fairly “internationally popular”, then what does? 🤷‍♀️There are thousands and thousands of names out there and only a small amount seem to have similar stats to William.

I can’t easily speak as to pronunciation as opposed to written stats, because I’m partially deaf. Even where I live I think the pronunciation seems to vary between “Wih-lee-um”, “Wih-lee-am”, “Will-yum”, “Will-yem” etc. So I wouldn’t be at all surprised if pronunciation isn’t identical everywhere in countries even where they pronounce the W with a “V” sound.

@Lollylavender , George is popular in lots of countries too but I wouldn't say it was international for pretty much the same reasons as you give.

William doesn't work with the surname anyway.

Yes, George is pronounced completely different in Germanic languages (two hard Gs) and therefore also doesn’t travel well, like William.

I know a French William (William in his passport, not Guillaume). He says his mum just liked the name, it was more trendy than Guillaume.

Checking the stats, William has been more popular in France than Guillaume since about 2008: www.insee.fr/fr/statistiques/3532172

Bill Bowe, Dildo, no

No, I’m not. He’s eight or nine.

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