Is Thibaut pretentious?

[Tubbilicious]

Hello, I'm having baby number 1 in September. I'm from t'north of England and so is dh... but I love French names. I'd appreciate honest opinions of Thibaut (pronounced Tibo). Of course you'll all give me loads of feedback and then I'll have a girl (Agnes, Elise or Elodie...)

Nikit09,I wasn't claiming the name was Irish, I never thought that. But 80 years ago in Ireland it was obviously the fashion to give really obscure saints names. Therefore, some of the names that sound crazily outlandish or inappropriate to the British ear sound a little more normal to me.

Comprendes?

I have an irrational and unfair dislike of names people have cherry picked from other cultures with which they have no connection. The preponderence of Amelies amongest friends without French bones in their bodies I find quite annoying and pretentious.

That doesn't bother me too much. It depends really. Like Suzanne or Claire, they are just the Amelie of 1970

How about Théo? (Tay-o) Bit more userfriendly perhaps.

I think the English version is Theobald - what about that? Nicer than Archie/Archibald. Although, going off on a tangent, I haven't heard of anyone's Archie being short for Archibald - it would be a lot braver and more interesting if they did.

Hmmm, I quite like the Theo/Theobald idea although he would definitely be called Theo on a daily basis. Thanks Buckets and Duzida.

Oh dear!!!

My son is called Thibaut and we dont have any French in the family.
I actually cant believe how anglophile these comments are - its hilarious. This is 2011 and we live in a multi cultural cosmopolitan society. Where do you think half our 'English' names come from....
We adore his name and I wouldnt change it. He stands out amongst the rafts of Georges, Williams and Harrys.
We do however, have french connections and both myself and my husband wanted to call him Thibaut for very strong reasons. Thibaut can be spelt in various ways and Thibaut (without the l) is the version used in west France (Brittany specifically). There is no correct version, per se.

Oh and BTW our other son is called William!! (3 in his class at school)

I like Thibault/Thibaut. Elegant, classy and masculine.

Lots, if not all, names used in Britain have foreign origins. Who cares? And lots of names are difficult to spell/pronounce (e.g. Niamh, Siobhan etc), which causes no problems once told.

I'd rather meet a little Thibaut than yet another Jack or Harry (nothing wrong with either but I just know so so many...)

I also love Thaddeus, so maybe I have 'pretentious' taste .

"I like Thibault/Thibaut. Elegant, classy and masculine."

oooh i like. X

In answer to OP-Yes

exoticfruits Thu 09-Jun-11 22:26:27
In answer to OP-Yes

Ok! Why is it prententious then ?

Because it is someone going out of their way to be different with a name that is fine if the DS has the personality to carry it off,(but they can't tell as a baby)one who will have to constantly spell it for people and one that will almost certainly be shortened in the playground.

to Tibby or worse

exotic fruits.

Sorry dont buy it. William gets shortened to wilbo, willy, bill, billy, I got called parker pants, pen etc at school. ANY name can be shortened or mispelt. Any derivation from 'normal' spelling will always need spelling out and I have even had to spell my (very normal) name to people before.

We are not going out of our way to be different any more from anyone who calls their child anything out of the top 20 most popular names. Look at the class lists of any school these days and you will certainly find your williams and jacks but also many many more unusual names.

Here in the south east, many classes are made up of pupils from varying nationalities and no-one bats an eyelid and the range of names that are on the register.

Therefore I still dont get why that makes it pretentious.

I just wanted to add that Elise is a top chav name and is a million miles away from Tibaut.

considering that this thread is almost a year old, op would have delivered and named the baby by now! Wonder what they chose in the end?

Apologies, it is exactly a year old.

Haha. Says it all really..
Re, year old. Yep just spotted it. But as mum of a thibaut (pretentious .. Moi!) thought I'd chip in. Agree thou, love to know what this baby ended up being called !

Why do people take old threads and not start their own?

I quite like Thibault, I know a lovely French one.

Thesecondcoming, if people near you can't pronounce Thibault, then why wouldn't they be able to learn? Just as they'd learn how to pronoucne Louis (Loo-ee or Loo-is) or Niamh (Neeve) or any other foreign name - at my ds's school are so many nationalities and there is no problem learning how to pronounce most names.

It's very pretentious.