Why oh why are boys' names SO hard?!

[JosephineClaire]

This is what I have so far, but I literally have no idea how to start narrowing it down. Surname is English, 2 syllables, begins with 'S'

Theodore (Theo/Teddy)
Matthew
Finian (Finn)
Leo
James
Hugo
Ivan
Luke
Nicholas (Nick)
Tobias (Toby)
Caspar
Harry
Arthur (Artie)
Alfred (Alfie/Fred)
Jude
Eric
Patrick
William
Laurence (Laurie/Rory)
Lachlan (Lachie)
Albert (Albie/Bertie)
Fred

My girl's name is all picked out and ready to go

I think they're all nice names tbh.

Why don't you wait until the baby is born and decide then?

Matthew
James
Luke
Nicholas (Nick)
Tobias (Toby)
Harry
Patrick
William

All lovely names.

I think I will make a final decision when the baby is born....but it's just such a huge list, I'll feel a bit silly if I don't get it down to a shortlist

I think I need to stop asking family though, everyone hates something, and all advice is different. Maybe I'll stick to MN feedback from now on

Dont ask people !

Just you and other half take the list and narrow it down to your top 10 - cross reference with each other to narrow it down to your top 5. Then wait........

When baby is born try the names for a while. We didn't name DS1 for 5 weeks when he was born - I love his name & I so wish we did this for DS2 (we named him before we came out of hospital as we felt he needed to have a name to come home), and he now has a name that I have never been 100% with.

Boys' names are easy! Unfortunately, we found naming our two dds really hard (had chosen boys' names for them really early on!).

From your list I like:
Theodore
Matthew
James
Luke
Tobias
Jude
Laurence (dd1 would have been Laurence!) - don't like Rory as a nn for it though.

LOVE Laurence

I like the following -
James - a bit 'safe', but Jimmy is lovely
Hugo - loving this - so friendly sounding
Caspar - lovely
Eric - really cool
Patrick - cute, love nn Patch
William - another 'safe' one, like Billy as a nn
Laurence (Laurie/Rory) - love this, seems to be popular on here at the moment - Laurie is a great nn.
Albert (Albie/Bertie) - love, but HATE Albie - so only Bert or Bertie for me - I prefer Bertram or Gikbert for Bert names though.

I dont really like any of the thers and I really dislike Luke and Matthew.

If I had to make a top 5
short-list from that, I would choose:

Patrick
James
Theodore
Caspar
Tobias

Hope that helps

Theodore (Theo/Teddy)DISLIKE IN FULL BUT LIKE THEO AND TEDDY
Matthew LOVE IT
Finian (Finn) DISLIKE FINIAN BUT FINN IS OK
Leo LOVE IT
James BIT DULL BUT OK
Hugo AWFUL
Ivan PREFER EVAN
Luke LOVE IT
Nicholas (Nick) LIKE IT BUT MAY GET KNICKERLESS
Tobias (Toby) DISLIKE
Caspar AWFUL
Harry LOVE IT
Arthur (Artie) AWFUL
Alfred (Alfie/Fred) AWFUL
Jude AWFUL, GIRLY, JUDE LAW
Eric AWFUL
Patrick OK IF LIKE PADDY
William DISLIKE
Laurence (Laurie/Rory) AWFUL
Lachlan (Lachie) LIKE IT
Albert (Albie/Bertie) DISLIKE
Fred DISLIKE

Theodore (Theo/Teddy) - like, prefer Theo to Teddy as nickname but Ted is OK
Matthew - OK
Finian (Finn) - dislike Finn names, sorry
Leo - like
James - OK
Hugo - OK
Ivan - not keen
Luke - like
Nicholas (Nick) - like
Tobias (Toby) - OK
Caspar - like
Harry - like if short for Henry
Arthur (Artie) - not keen
Alfred (Alfie/Fred) - not keen
Jude - like
Eric - like
Patrick - OK
William - like a lot
Laurence (Laurie/Rory) - like
Lachlan (Lachie) - dislike
Albert (Albie/Bertie) - not keen
Fred - like if short for Frederick

From your list, I like these.

Theodore (Theo/Teddy)
Leo
Tobias (Toby)
Caspar
Laurence (Laurie/Rory)

Also like Rory as a name rather than a nn for Laurence.

Theodore (Theo/Teddy) - has become too popular
Matthew - classic but a bit.... ok
Finian (Finn) - like it but has become very pop
Leo - love this one
James - classic, what can you say?
Hugo - love this one
Ivan - I quite like it
Luke - ok but a bit like James
Nicholas (Nick) - not keen on nick
Tobias (Toby) - I like this one!
Caspar - Like it
Harry - no
Arthur (Artie) - no. Dislike this one
Alfred (Alfie/Fred) - like Freddie but not Alfie
Jude - no. Too trendy
Eric - no
Patrick - yes, great name, underused classic
William - ok. Billy a lovely nn
Laurence (Laurie/Rory) - I like this!
Lachlan (Lachie) Scotish gaelic for Laurence so you have this twice on yuor list!
Albert (Albie/Bertie) no.
Fred - no.

What about Marcus or Fergus?!