Be brutal - Alex Joseph

[Pootles2010]

Need complete honesty, promise not to be offended!

But Alexander (Alex for short) Joseph is our favourite at the moment. Not too in love with it so won't be offended! Surname begins with P, two syllables.

Eck? really? I think Sandy sounds better said with a strong scots accent (my brummie isn't quite up to the job)

I have an Alex and a Joseph but they are 2 people! Like 'em both. Obviously.

Eck is a shortened version of Alexander - DH has a work colleague who gets called Eck all the time.

Very nice names -- I think Sandy is almost the equivalent of Paddy, a caricature name for a Scot as Paddy is for someone Irish. So unless you're Scottish I would steer clear of it and choose any other nn.

An Alexandra I knew of called herself Xan.

Beautiful, timeless and elegant names! And they give the boy a chance to choose his shortened name if he wants.

lovely. we want it if we have a boy. Am hoping he has fair hair so we can call him Sandy.

lovechoc - is that a Scottish thing too? Thanks for all feedback, has cemented it as favourite i think! So long as he actually is a he, of course...

mathanxiety, Sandy is not the Scottish equivalent of Paddy. Scots caricatures are more likely to be Jimmy.

But Sandy is very common NN for Alexander in Scotland. My Alexander is called Alex (DH is English and couldn't get used to Sandy for a boy) although Scots people tend to use Alec more than Alex. DS used to get called Sasha by the Georgian staff at the nursery he attended when he was little (I thought it was cute).

Alexander is such a versatile name - so many options for shortening/personalising.

BTW, isn't there a 'wee Eck' in the Oor Wullie cartoon strips?

Really really nice name - you can't go wrong there

I love it.

If either of my girls had been boys they probably would have been Alexander Joseph or Alexander James...

It sounds fine, nthing wrong with it really

I actually much prefer Joseph to Alexander though. Love the name Joseph.

I like the nn Xander more than Alex I think. Alex is very popular round here for girls especially, but also boys.

I think Eck is more a Scottish NN for Alexander. Been a while since I read Oor Wullie annual at Christmas time, but I think there is a character in it called 'wee Eck'. Probably more a west coast thing than anything else.

Sandy is a common NN for Alexander in Scotland. I don't think I've come across a young Sandy though, only elderly men called Sandy so far..

And yes, Scottish folk do tend to call Alexanders 'Alec' (my MIL does this with her other GS). I think it may be a generation thing.

I like Alexander with either Alex of Xander for a nn. Sandy is ok but it's a girl's name here. (I have heard of it for Alexander though.)

DH really liked Alexander when I was preg with DS, but I used to have a horrid little Alex when I taught preschool, so that was out.

I love it. Here in Scotland I've known Alexander's known as Alex and plenty of Sandy's too. Alec is often intermingled with Alex as others have said - seems to depend on area/age of the person.

It's on our shortlist for DC2 due in 4 weeks - if a boy as the scan seemed to think!

I like Alex as a shortform - if my DH was set on Sandy I would think again as Sandy is my aunt's name and not growing up in Scotland it still sounds more a girls name to me!

good strong name

Common for scottish alexanders to be Sandy. I like it as a nickname. Depends how it's viewed in your area, I suppose