Michael for a brother to Joseph?

[TheWyldRover]

We have a DS already called Joseph, we mainly call him Joey. We really like the name Michael nn Mikey for DS2, but when I told family they said it was dated. Wdyt of Michael for a brother for Joseph?.

Great name, a classic, extremely versatile and won't date.

Perfect for brothers.

Dated as in nowhere near as popular as it use to be? - yes.

Dated as in it's unusable? - Absolutely not

I think Joseph and Michael/Joey and Mikey sound like brothers.

I would put Michael in the same category as Matthew, Christopher, Steven, Peter, David, Robert etc. They're traditional classics which might not be used regularly these days, but are still very much used in that they don't feel odd when you do hear them.

According to Darker Green, which gets their data from the Office for National Statistics (ie accurate data based on actual registrations) there were 626 boys named Michael who were born in 2024 (the 2025 data hasn't been released yet,). It was the 85th most popular boys name in England and Wales. So it's still currently a top 100 name, meaning it is very much in still in use. For comparison, Joseph was 56th with 946 registrations, so there's not a world of difference in it.

Both great names

Bit why does every name have to be converted to an ‘ie’ diminutive nowadays? Classrooms are packed with them…

I like it. Its a classic boy name like John, Paul, Peter, David, Daniel. I dont think you can go wrong with them.