Short go-anywhere boys' names. Adam? Simon?

[MrsBadger]

we have tight criteria and are low on ideas.

Must be one or two syllables, not too easy to shorten and not an abbreviation of a longer classic (so not Tom, Ben, Joe).

Erring slightly on the side of poncey rather than ch modern or unique.

So far ideas include
Adam
Simon
John (tentative as is an uncle)
Alex (tentative due to Alex / Alexander rows)

wish we could use James but is already bagged.

middle name will be Henry, surname is one long syllable (think Stone or Rowe).

bring it on, oh wise MNers...

Aaron?

Rory
Giles
Miles
Max
Alan
Arlo
Owen
Mark
Hamish
Ian

Adam lovely and underused so there won't be many Adam's, if any, at his school.

Not keen on Simon.

Hamish, Fraser, Arlo, Peter and Leo all completely rock. Choose one of them....

Simon and Reuben are equally Jewish in my book . I like both, a lot.

DSS1 is Alexandre, and is mostly called Alex. It's a bit too ubiquitous. DP says he wouldn't choose it now, despite thinking it's a lovely name - he'd prefer something a little less used.

John is very dull!

Adam - OK. Doesn't excite me.

How about Giles? Very underused these days in English.

Well no, exactly, no more than (eg) David, Daniel, Benjamin, Jonathan etc. In fact Aaron is on the shortlist if we can decide how it can be pronounced .

I'm not sure John is dull - like Jane and Susan it was once ubiquitous but not any more

Hugh, Rory, Miles and Giles are good ideas but perhaps erring too far towards the poncey - what if he (like DH) ends up in the pub with a lot of builders?

It's this fine line between chorister and brickie...

MrsBadger I love Evan. Please choose it.

Alternatively, if you want to play the Welsh card, what about Haydn (pronounced, confusingly, Hayden).

Great for a chorister !

Doesn't your DD have a name with a short o-sound? If your surname has a long o-sound maybe you should avoid yet more o variants and choose a name with a different vowel sound.

Glen
Paul
Keiran
Euan
Jack
Ethan
Claude

put it this way, if we used Rory for this one we would sound very silly when calling them both

actually putting John with DH's name sounds a bit silly too

[mulls]

Do you like Peter? A timeless classic, fits all classes, and hardly any around these days (like John).

Or what about Justin?

How about:

Eli
Noah
Seth
Toby
Nico
Zeke

Frank
Fred
Clive
Finn
Kurt

Is it your DH who ruled out Eleanor as a bit too twee last time round?

And do you have v good reason for avoiding Laurence this time?

Meanwhile:
Owen?
Austin?
Justin?
Stephen?
Edmund?

yes that was him Lancelottie, well remembered
No to several otherwise good suggestions due to shortenings (Steve, Ed and Pete).
Austin was on the long-list in case dd was a boy but am not sure it passes the brickie test. DD would be thrilled with Justin but I am not buying

so far we have
Adam
Simon
Reuben
John
Aaron
Evan
Mark

I like Owen but growing up in Wales DH knew tons and got Owen-ed out. Like (um) Sarah - pretty name but I have had my quota, iyswim.

Evan, deffo (sorry, I'm a bit obsessed .....)

Just reminded me at the time of my DH's errr, restricted attitude to acceptable names. And I wanted the one you picked in the end and didn't get it. Sulk.

All brickies are called Andy or Kevin anyhow. IME.

How about you bludgeon DH over the head with some of these reserve suggestions:

Gordon
Graham
Colin
Roger
Patrick
Cuthbert
Francis

then slip in your preferred name while he's still reeling backwards crying 'Aargh, no, no?'

PS I do like some of those names. Won't specify which.

Now actually I could live with Colin if it weren;t for the ghastly wet drip from the Secret Garden

yes re brickies, but 'Andy, Kev and Mark' sounds acceptable, whereas 'Andy, Kev and Miles' sounds odd

ditto choristers - 'Sebastian, Christopher and Mark' vs 'Sebastian, Christopher and Grant'

Duncan. We have one with the same sort of surname.

Milo? He was a fab character in the book 'Catch 22' but im probablybiased because it really suits my DS

Rupert
Stefan
George
James
Kieran
Edward
Lloyd
Luca
Lewis
Olly
Reuben

Brett

Kit
Bryan/Brian
Glynn/Glen
Rhys