Due today, please HELP ME choose a boy's name

[DrSkidaddle]

OK here is my DH's list:

Cillian
Remy
Rudy
Bosco

Here is my list:

Noah
Gabriel
Inigo
Sam

Here is a list of names we both (very grudgingly) MIGHT accept:

Malachy
Inaki (should have tilde (squiggle) on the n but don't know how to type it)
Tadgh
Rory/Ruari

DH is Irish btw

Any suggestions or preferences much appreciated - be as brutal as you like!

Tadhg is pronounced with an EYE sound in the middle in Ireland. The ADH combination is pronounced 'eye' in Irish. So you end up with 'Tige' (long I, hard G)

wow thanks for all the feedback - yes, Tadhg is pronounced like Tiger without the r - I really like the sound of it, just don;t like the spelling (as we live in the UK and no-one will know how to say it)

Agree with the Gillian/Kill problem with Cillian

OK fair dos re Inaki - I love it but know he will be condemned to a lifetime of having to spell/explain his ame (but same with Tadhg and possible Cillian I reckon?)

CSWS - quite like Fergus (and Angus and Hamish) but DH doesn't like any of them

RE the Malachy/Malachi spelling - I thought that Malachi was pronounced Mal-ah-kai but Malachy was pronunced Mal-ah-kee (which is what we want) - is this right??

Ruari would be pronounced Roo-ree as oppoased ro Roar-ree for Rory but tbh I reckon he would be called Roar-ree whatever the spelling as we live in the UK. We both really like Rory/Ruari but the big problem with it that it is my brother's name and I think that it would be a bit wierd to call him the same name? Otherwise I reckon we would go for this....

Have been in discussion all evening and have also come up with:
Toby
Silas
Cosmo
Caspar

but any new suggestions very very welcome!

What a lovely list of names - I really like some of yours and your DH's list.

However you're brave asking for advice here! Lots of the Mnetters who post on the baby names threads are very conservative (small c!) about names and shoot down any slightly unusual names. So you'll find the general consensus is likely to be the most boring / well known names form your list (i.e. Sam and Rory - no surprise there!).

Also there is a - probably unconscious - bias to Anglicised names here. Often when OPs suggest Celtic names, you'll find people saying "you can't call your child that, they'll forever have to spell it, why don't you just call them a nice normal name like Edward or Harry (or whatever)". But they don't realise that if everyone took this advice then Welsh / Irish / Scottish names would die out completely over time, which would be a great shame indeed, and is the death of culture in action.

However it seems to me that you both like the more unusual names, so please, don a hard hat and don't listen to the boring people who would have you call your child something English plain, instead of something along the lines of the beautiful names you have listed above.

FWIW my favourites from your lists are Rudy and Inigo. Inigo was a favourite of my DP's and I suspect it'll be on any future list, should the occasion arise
I know a Rudy, it's a great name.

How do you pronounce Inaki?

I'll have a think about some other suggestions and post them here..

HTH

p.s. Sorry for the rant, this is a personal bug bear of mine!

Like them all apart fron Bosco...really reminds be of dukes of hazard for some reason??

Oh no, I've just seen your later post

"OK fair dos re Inaki - I love it but know he will be condemned to a lifetime of having to spell/explain his ame (but same with Tadhg and possible Cillian I reckon?)"

They've already done it to you! Don't listen!!

I feel quite strongly that when English people say "you shouldn't use that name no one will know how to spell it / it's hard to pronounce" what they're actually saying by implication (and usually without realising it) is that only English / Anglicised names are acceptable. And if we go down that route, then this really is the death of Welsh / Irish / Scottish culture in action. In other words if we don't use these names for fear the English won't be able to say them, they'll die out, and the English will never get a chance to learn how to say them!

Names like Siobhan, Sian, Sinead and Niamh are becoming more well known by the English, why not Tadhg, Inaki and Ruari next?

I've got a boring sounding but unusual surname and have to spell it EVERY time. It doesn't bother me in the slightest, I think these things only bother you if you let them / like having something to moan about!

Also I have lots of friends with unusual names (some because of different nationalities, some from hippy parents). They ALL say they like their names.

OK, rant over

Tadhg is a great name BTW, I love it!

How about ...

Rohan
Oisin
Keiran

Atticus
Kelvin

Have you seen this thread? There are some great names on it.

lowrib, I think you'll find not ALL of use are conservative but thanks

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Christiana we loved Dashiell too but 3 girls put that to rest we had Dashiell, Cassius or Cassian, Cash, Roan or Corin as our boys names

dizzydixies - no of course not!

That's not what I meant at all. I just think it would be a great shame if DrSkiddale and others are put off using names they love because of the slating the more unusual names get here. And they do get a slating, more often than not IME - although not by everyone of course!

DrSkidaddle, I hope you're doing well today - I wonder if you're perhaps very busy indeed?!
I hope that when you meet your baby, you just know!

It's worth bearing in mind that people are much more polite about a name once you've actually chosen it, and I reckon that many of the nay-sayers can even come round to liking an unusual name once they've got to know the child and got used to the name actually being used.

FWIW, I went into labour not knowing what we would call DS. DP had a long list of - mostly quite unusual or traditional Celtic - names. There was one in particular I had kept coming back to, and although I thought at the time I hadn't made my mind up, when he arrived I just know it would be that name - in retrospect, it's obvious to me that that was always going to be the name we picked, but it didn't seem obvious at the time. I hope that makes some kind of sense!

I found it helped too, to say the names out loud lots, to get used to it. Some I liked on paper, but they didn't trip off the tongue well, others just seemed better to say.

HTH

I like Toby - and Rohan/Rowan a lot.

I like Noah and Sam.

no to inigo (too princess bride)

yes to gabriel

i like silas

Tadgh or Cillian are lovely

Noah, Malachy and Ruaríe nice.

the rest are awful, sorry

Toby -- Like a lot
Silas -- Love
Cosmo -- LOVE
Caspar -- Like a lot

Malachi or Malachy would both be pronounced Malakey in Ireland.

I love Tadhg and Cillian. Would you consider Caoilte (Keelteh)? Moling? Raghnall (Ranald)?

I know a Killian, so I don't think it's too unusual. It would be good to find some sort of compromise on the spelling of Tadhg as the sound of it is lovely, but nobody will know how to say it.
Cosmo just reminds me of Jilly Cooper's character Little Cosmo who was a frightful little shit.
Rohan is lovely but I'd pronounce it Rowan as opposed to the Tolkien way (Ro- Han).

thanks everyone, esp. lowrib! I know what you mean about unusual names but our DD has a very unusual name and although I do love her name (Zinzi), I half regret calling her it because I constantly have to explain, repeat, spell etc it to everyone I meet. And now that she is soon to start school it will be her that has to explain it and I do feel bad for her for that reason.

DS has a much more common name which we didn't decide on until he is was 5 weeks old! Neither of us were mad about it initially but we both now love it because it's his IYKWIM

Inaki is pronounced In-yak-ee btw

I really like Cassius but DH doesn't

Will suggest Dashieel to DH - think he might like it

Have never heard of your suggestions mathsanxiety but will tell DH - again they sound like his cup of tea

Oh and thanks for the link to that thread lowrib - yes have seen it and got inspiration from it (Cosmo for starters..)!

Any more suggestions still welcome although think I am coming round to Silas - good mix of cute and manly....

thanks again and keep them coming!

Inaki would go really well with Zinzi (gorgeous name) -- never apologise for it, especially to her! I like Cosimo as well as Cosmo.

Moling (aka Mo-linn) was an obscure early Irish saint and Bishop of Ferns. Raghnall was an early British regional ruler and patron of the church (pronounced Ranal) transliterated as Ranald. Caoilte is a very old Irish name, probably means 'swift'. It can be pronounced Kweel-cha, Keel-cha, Kweel-teh, Keel-teh.

There's also Cairbre (pr. Carr-i-bra) a name found in legends, Colman (Cull-mawn) related to Colmcille (dove reference), Macdara (mock-dorra), Conleth, Jarlath, Cormac, Phelim (Fay-lum), Manus, Ferdia, Murtagh, Bram, Somhairle (also Sorley) pr. Sawrla, means 'summer wanderer', a reference to Vikings.

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how about Soren?

Remy is sweet, I quite like sam too.

what about Marley ? I heard it the other day and thought it was a fab name for a boy.

Hmm not mad keen on Marley, Soren (makes me think of Soren Lorensen from Charlie and Lola!)or Anselm I'm afraid, but thanks.

Am wondering about Otto.... any thoughts?

Otto is a cool name, as long as it goes with your surname (doesn't with ours).

Cillian...awful
Remy...awful, may get remedial
Rudy...awful
Bosco..shockingly awfu

Noah...love it
Gabriel...girly and 'gay'