Ptolemy???

[SpangleMaker]

Found out today we are having a boy

DH has suggested calling him Ptolemy... at first I thought he was joking but now the name's really growing on me and we're seriously considering using it. Trouble is, we're not mega posh & the kid will be going to a state school.

So what do you think? Acceptable in this age of weird names, or are we being mean to the poor child?

Surely there are names which don't fall into eitehr camp.

No no no Storky! He isn't!

It turns out I was wrong about his baby's name though, he's actually called Sophocles.

well I never... pania. learn something new everyday.

Sophocles is a bloody fantastic name!!!!

Be ptold- this name is not to ptolerated.

Thanks everyone - I'm quite glad I posted this now (if only to provide nkf with an end-of-the-week joke ) because it's clarified my thinking a little.

• Spelling isn't an issue - apart from the silent 'p' it's spelt how it's said. And it's certainly easier than Gaelic names

• There is nothing difficult to pronounce about 'Tollemy'. OK, some people may have trouble with the silent 'p', but hell, we live in a multicultural society with loads of foreign names people find it difficult to pronounce. We manage!

• I really, really do not care if people think we're pretentious. DH and I are very independent-minded and have never given a toss whether people think we're trying to be posh, or common, or whatever.

So the only things we have to work out is whether we really do love the name that much, and, if we do, what we think our son will make of it.

Oh it's great to hear some of you love the name too

Be ptold- this name is not to be ptolerated.

OT but I had a dream recently about Brett it was fantastic.... I could've snapped him like a twig.

didn't want to wake up

Go for it - alot better than most made up names. Good to be unique (in a non 'Naterlee' way )

Sophocles really is undenibly cool.

Ptolemy is uptterly pterrible pthough.Please don't inflicpt ipt on your poor boy unless pthere is no opther opption.

Congratulations, btw.

(And sorry to be so rude. I juspt really really pthink ipt's awful and don'pt pthink I'm alone. Remember your first reaction- you thought your husband was joking. That's what quite a few people will think every time he introduces himself, which would be really sad for him. I'm sure he will be a wonderful and gorgeous boy so people would get over their initial shock in time but I still think he might suffer a bit in the process unless he is utterly uberconfident.)

Can't stand it, sorry. You are setting the child up for a lifetime of persecution!

I would honestly rather be called Naterlee than Ptolemy.

Makes me think of Ptolemy Dean - the Architect who featured on Restoration series a couple of years ago.... He actually came to my street filming for a Channel 5 programme earlier this year

think it's awful, sorry. Looks like something on Countdown that you have to try and make a word out of

Yuk. He will grow up to be an utter ptwat if you call him that.

Dreadful imho. I'm sorry but it sounds really try hard.

ScummyMummy don't worry you manage to be 'rude' in a nice way

We're certainly not wedded to the name at this stage (should still have another 20wks to decide) and the other name we have in mind isn't pretentious/whatever in the slightest. Interesting getting opinions over t'internet... certainly hear far worse on here than we would in RL... I mean, can you imagine saying to someone 'I think your son will grow up to be an utter twat if you call him that?'

It is awful. It is very poncey and just sounds like you are trying too hard. Sorry but you did ask!

I don't think it's particularly poncey. It's just funny.

Agree with scummymummy. You may not care if people think it is pretentious but your son will. Ds goes to school with a very middle class intake and there is a little boy with a slightly poncey name although not as poncey as Ptolemy and the older children are already taking the mickey.

I'm sorry but I'm afraid I can't see or hear the name without thinking of a MNer (can't remember who it was) coining the phrase "Ptolemy the Ptwat"

for the record... my dd is friends with a ptolemy. his mum DOES have to constantly spell it and sadly the name has been the butt of quite alot of jokes... even though he is 5 now! don't mind it personally but would not thank my parents if i had been a boy and they had called me it....

Haven't read any of the other posts. I LOVE Ptolemy. Wasn't he wrong though? Didn't Copernicus prove it?

(Apologies if you've covered this.)

Actually Spangle hello! Have just read your thread and I think Tol and Tolly are really nice as shortened versions. Can't really say much else except if you love it and DH loves it - then use it! (and bug*er what everyone else says!)

I like Tolly, but prefer Bartholomew. Ptolemy is a bit extreme. I don't think the spelling is a big deal - I always have to spell my name, and it's fab (the name that is, not the spelling!).

My name isn't that obscure (although uncommon when I was young) and it's not just that you continually have to spell it, and correct people when they get it wrong, but that even close friends can get it wrong after years (slip up and go for the more common name, one letter difference).

I love my name and thankfully it is more common now but I don't think it helped my self esteem when I was a teenager at all (read: I'm so insignificant that people can't even get my name right). My children's names are going to be ones that people can spell and are not going to confuse with another more commonly spelt name.

But my friend with a very popular name from the 70's has chosen obscure names for her girls!!!

Maybe there is a pattern there.