Struggling with boys names - Oliver, William, Peter

[wasabipeanut]

OK, we have quite a few girls names we like but are struggling with boys names.

So far we keep coming back to Oliver and William (prob abbreviate to Billy) although I rather like Peter too.

I have concerns about Oliver and William being mega popular and we got caught out with DS's name which is still apparently only number 64 in the popularity charts (Freddie since you ask) but we know absolutely loads! We thought we were being a bit different......but no.

For girls we like Matilda, Clara, Emmeline and I am trying to sell Kitty to DH.

Middle name for family reasons would be Arthur for a boy and Alice for a girl.

I'm after some feedback!

I love Peter - though it's quite popular round here as big German population and it seems to be big in Germany right now.

I do think there are millions of Olivers and Williams

If you're worried about popularity, I'd avoid Oliver (3 in ds's year of 27).

William is nice but also quite popular.

Peter is a nice solid, classic name that you don't hear so often these days. I like it.

Other, similar names are in my view

Henry
Quentin
Tobias
Thomas (but perhaps too popular?)
Charles (but again, Charlie mega popular)

I love Peter and William (in fact my best friend who sadly passed away was called Peter Willliam!).
i think Peter is such an underused classic, (I think it is something like 140 in the charts).
William is lovely - has great nn potential (I love Bill myself!)
Do not like Oliver.

Love Emmeline form your girls lists.

mrsboring, really, is Peter popular in Germany? I'm German and only know Peters aged 40-60yrs. I certainly haven't seen in the top 10/20 for the past few years...

There are already quite a few Charlies (!) in our family and our nephew is a Thomas! There are millions of Olivers and Williams but I only know 1.

The more I think of Peter the more I like it. It has a nice meaning too.

I don't like Peter, but love William.

Would you consider

David
Matthew or
John

hellokitty - sorry I shouldn't have said "in Germany" as I really don't know, but round our way there are lots of Peters - I know four.

It's quite a job trying to get an unusal but classic name though. I was a tiny bit miffed to be told my DS1's name is massive in Poland right now - it's another underused classic here - P h i l i p. (I have only ever come across two - one who lived two doors away from us and one we met in a queue at Legoland)

Ds2 is William, and isn't that popular around here at all. Agree that there is great nn potential, though I prefer Will to Bill/Billy.

Oliver v common, but think Peter is lovely. Fil is Peter, which is why we didn't go fo it with either ds. Actually don't know of anyone called Peter apart from fil.

Mrsgboring - you have great taste in names - my dad is Philip

mrsboring That's so weird. I was just thinking this morning how rare the name Philip is....

It's my dad's name, and my DS1s middle name

Actually Jamieandmagictorch I really like Matthew too. Not so keen on David and John.

Seems Peter is getting mostly the thumbs up!

Not v many Michaels about these days but I think it is lovely and oddly underused given the current vogue for Gabriel

wasabi I just think Matthew has a lovely calm, strong feeling about it. It also suits all ages.

You have very good taste in names

I love Peter, but it's my db's name.

William is also a lovely classic name.

Clara and Kitty are great girls names too.