That’s the problem I have. I’ve known too many less than pleasant people named Nate (Nathaniel), Doug (Douglas), Nick (Nicholas), etc. Sure, Douglas Raymond sounds great… but all I’d be able to think of is the jerkass in my trig class who bullied me.
And the R thing is hard. There are plenty of good names with “R” and plenty of family names, but it ends up sounding like an engine revving. One of the girls at work today suggested “L” names, or ones with “L” sounds because it tends to sound softer. Like Elliott, Liam, or Willem.
Those websites are great!! I got home about a hour ago and I’ve spent most of that time looking at those websites. Great references. Thanks!
Abe is nice and all, but I like full names and Abraham Raymond gives me gravel mouth. Lots of long a’s and the "r"s… it’s a possibility for future children, if we were to have a second son, but Raymond is a “must-have” so other compromises must be made.
Swistle’s Baby Name Blog isn’t that bad. People write in with your parametres all the time. Plus, it’s fun to see the followups.
Ignore the top post with discussion of the name “Brynter.” Also, people write in to ask her questions and she’s quite non-judgey of the NotWithoutMyHandbag oriented namers.
Julian, Joachim/Joaquin, Dorian, Alistair, Tristan, Spencer, Finn, Graham, Soren are my suggestions.
Also, I’m fond of the name “Tarquin”. Probably because I once knew someone really awesome with that name (college, lost track).
I wouldn’t worry too much about this. You’re not talking about meeting a new casual acquaintance with the same name as someone you dislike–you are talking about your child. Once he is born, he will be the most important Douglass (or whatever) you’ve ever known, and every other Douglass will have the same name as your son, not the other way around.
Word! I came in to say just that. Tell your names beforehand and everybody and their dog will have an opinion (probably bad). Afterwards? “Hi, this is our new daughter Eustacia Peanut.” “Oh! What a …(gulp)…lovely name…”
In fact, we used to keep a couple of “decoy names” on the go precisely for this issue. Sadly though, nobody seemed to truly believe we were really going to name our kid Mahashelal Hashbaz
Also - you know if you obsess too much over the boy name this pretty much guarantees you’re going to have a girl, right?
I wouldn’t worry about matching the middle name either. Unless you are intending to use it - and it doesn’t sound like you want a Billy Bob. My son’s middle name is very long - its actually two names my father’s name and his birth family name. It isn’t like you say the full name very often - unless you are the type of Mom who pulls it out to yell.
Pick a first name you like, that works well with the last name and that doesn’t have an easy nickname you hate. (Like Elizabeth, hate Liz - do not have an Elizabeth). Make sure it isn’t a name for working the pole (or whatever the male equivalent for a pole name is). Don’t spell it with extra y’s. Don’t worry too much about bad associations with that name, about four minutes after your kid is born the “Kevin” that drove you crazy at your first job is GONE and Kevin is your dear child’s name - that some other people have.
Get a baby name book and a notepad. Write names down you like. Show them to your husband, cross off the ones he doesn’t like. You’ll end up with a short list.
ETA: My daughter has a traditional but less than common first name with an unusual nickname for that - most people don’t realize the two are related - Like Peggy from Margaret - that sort of thing. She’s Peg, except for the first day of school when teachers use her full name, she is Peg and most people don’t even KNOW her name is Margaret.
I was going to suggest Elliott! It was the first name that popped into my head after reading the OP, even though it has no German or Polish connections that I’m aware of.
How about…
Adam
Benjamin
Clement
David
Emmett
Finn
Gavin
Hugh
Isaac
Joshua
Kelvin
Lance
Maxwell
Noah
Owen
Perry
Quinn
Rex Raymond… you don’t need to comment, I know
Sean
Tristan
Ummm… I’ll get back to you
Vincent
Wesley
Xavier
Yeah, can’t think of anything for Y either.
Zane
Don’t worry about it, as long as your steer clear of anything that has negative connotations for you, pretty much anything goes.
Believe me, it is probably the least important decision you’ll take. Once they are born, no matter what name you give them…bang! its like they’ve always been called that.
We called our first born Emily (after Bronte, and Bagpuss) Alice (a name from my deceased mother’s side of the family).
Fairly mainstream, but don’t be bothered about that. With any luck you child will make up in personality what they lack in “interesting” names.
I remember reading a tip somewhere about choosing a name.
It recommended counting the syllables of the last name and taking note if the number was odd or even. Then making sure the first name was the opposite.
Preferable names would be first name (odd syllables), last name (even syllables),
or the reverse first name (even syllables), last name (odd syllables).
Preferable: Peter Smith, Kevin Jones, John Weston, Carrie McMaster.
Non-preferable: John Smith, Abraham Jones, David Weston, Grace McMaster.
That one leads to lots of jokes in Spanish (“lisa” means flat, or flat-chested); there’s Spanish names which sound or look horrible in English.
Pick a phone book? I like both Michael (in any language) and Charles (id.), but both Michael Raymond and Charles Raymond sound overwrought. I don’t imagine Berenguer Raymond would work (name of several Counts of Barcelona, way very-far-back when it was an independent city-state, including one of the Twin Counts)
Goddammit! I just can not spell that name correctly. It’s like me and guard. If I’m writing it somewhere without spell check, I spell the word out and then I switch the two vowels. That’s how I know I spelled the word correctly.
Our youngest son is named Henry. This has a unassertive r, numerous Polish-German connections (look at kings), and tradition aplenty. It is a popular name but not an overly popular one.
Yeah we thought we had it made when we figured out the names for our twins. Then when it came time we were like “wait a minute - which name do we give to which girl?”
We blended new to the family first names and old to the family middle names. Old testament, English, French, and Southern US were our sources.
Over the pregnancy we kept a short list of names we liked. Some fell off, some got added. Imagine yourself calling it. Imagine them using it when they’re grown up. There’s always going to be another kid with that name.
Think of all your favorite people and what their names are. I suspect they’re ordinary names. Your kid’s going to be special not because his name is Ravenrock or Nelson.
I’ve recently thought it would be very cool to just assign a somewhat generic middle name (Ann, Lynn, Alan, etc.) at birth and then let the kid choose his/her own official first name at an appropriate age, say 12-13. It would be fun to see what they choose and then they couldn’t be unhappy about their name throughout life.
(name of several Counts of Barcelona, way very-far-back when it was an independent city-state, including one of the Twin Counts)