How about Sue?
Congratulations on the upcoming birth of your child. I personally don’t like names that have recently sprung into existence. They sound gimmicky to my ear and I can’t picture a middle aged man or woman answering to them.
Of the three, I like Carter the best. I hate Conde and Kayden. I would look for a traditional name that has fallen out of style.
My wife and I are in the same situation with a similar time frame. We can’t settle on a name either. I like the names Ulysses and Rodrigo, so take my advice with a heaping bowl of salt. My wife dislikes both of them so those are out.
Oh, just go with Carter already.
It sucks, but it’s better than any of the others, and those in turn are better than the appallingly dreadful “Tiano” you suggested last time we did this.
It seems you are determined to give the poor little sod a trashy name and years of childhood teasing. You seem to have completely ruled out anything weird and unusual like Peter or Mike, so I guess now it’s about damage minimisation. Go with Carter. Dreadful, but could be worse. At least people can spell it.
How about Frank?
I like the name Carter, and dislike Condé and Kayden, pretty much for reasons already given by other posters. If this is your short list, go with Carter, but you have plenty of time to choose. You might even choose a name, and see your baby’s face and realise that he (or she!) needs a totally different name!
Two boy’s names that I love are Alexander (although it’s popular right now, I think it’s a nice name) and Malcolm. I like Elizabeth for a girl. But I am not pregnant and not planning to be for a while, so who knows what I’d actually choose. In our case, it’s a little more complicated with my husband’s last name (the kids would have it), because his name is unusual and a lot of nice names just don’t work well with it, and the fact that we’d want names that are equally easily pronounceable in English and French.
Congratulations on your wife’s pregnancy!
Here’s the Baby Name Voyager referenced above, and here’s the “Baby’s Named a Bad, Bad Thing” website, also referenced above. Also, here’s the blog from the creator of the Baby Name Voyager. It may be more helpful to you because she talks about naming trends and those sorts of things. Oh, and here’s Nymbler, which suggest names for you based on your input. We found all of these websites pretty useful (or at least interesting) when I was pregnant last year.
I agree with the group: Carter is the least bad of those three names, but it still sounds trendy to my ear. Conde & Kayden sound somewhat feminine to me (the former especially) and are just asking to be misspelled and/or mispronounced. And they sound really trendy.
Now, it seems to me that you need to tell us the sort of feeling you’re trying to evoke with your child’s name. Are you going for trendy or for classic? How important is the name’s meaning to you? Do you want something really unusual, or just something not-too-popular? Do you want a name from a certain culture/religion/language? Does it matter to you if you/your child will have to correct the spelling and/or pronunciation of his name? If you choose an unusual name, can you accept that you may get less-than-positive reactions?
We found it harder to settle on boys’ names than on girls’ names – we didn’t have a name picked for our son until 5 days before his birth!
I know a Carter and a Caden. I prefer the name Carter. I don’t much care for Conde though.
I like old-fashioned names best though. Someone at work just had a baby she named Oliver, which I think is awesome. My sons are Aaron and Benjamin, and they have some friends with more oldie names like Ella and Sophie, which are really cute.
Thanks for your post. Have looked at all those websites. People seem to be assuming I have already chosen.
I do not care about if the name is trendy or classic. Just that it is a good name. I want a name that is unusual in that it is not very popular. I am from New Zealand. My wife is Cambodian but she wants no Cambodian names except as I said before the baby will have her surname as a middle name. I do not think the pronunciation thing is a problem. It only occurs in situations when someone you do not know tries to attempt your name.
I would like an unusual name that does not invite teasing- a very difficult combination.
My actual favourite name is ‘Jack’. But he would be in school with 5 others called ‘Jack’ in the same class.
Most popular names in Victoria 2007 -
Jack 613
Thomas 575
William 545
Joshua 517
Lachlan 490
James 449
Noah 381
Ethan 379
Oliver 373
Benjamin 347
Carter is okay. Especially if you don’t mind that most Americans he meets will probably give him the nickname “Jimmy”.
Conde sounds feminine. If you gave a boy that name, it is a fact that he will get beaten up on teh playground by other boys and assumed to be gay (which isn’t to say it’s a bad thing to be gay or that gay men actually are feminine, but that is the simple reality of what will happen).
I think most Americans will assume that someone named Kayden was born to a teen mom. For whatever reason, teen moms love that name.
Fair enough, but you are asking posters on a public message board what they/we think, and it’s pretty obvious that many of us do care about perceived trendiness, and are doing our best to answer your question honestly. Also, it seems that Kayden in particular (if you take the variations into account) is no where near as unusual or rare as you might like.
blinkingblinking , there will be many occasions when someone who does not know your potential son will have to pronounce his name, like at the beginning of every school year, at job interviews, at the bank, at the doctor’s office, when meeting a girl he got off match.com, when he wins an academy award in a less high-profile category, when he enters boot camp, when he pledges a frat, when his prescription is ready…
The pronunciation thing is a problem, especially if people think he’s named after a certain toothy lady secretary of state.
I still think Tarmonica is great name.
Whattabout Tarmonicarter?
It’s not any worse.
Well, that’s the trick. One reason to avoid trendy names is not just because they’re trendy, but because they may seem like they’re unusual when – suprise! – they turn out to be very usual indeed.
Ava, for example, is a top 10 girl’s name in the states, and rocketed to that position this past decade. You may not know any Avas your age, but your daughter Ava is quite likely to be one of a few in her class (depending on where you live and your class size, of course).
In addition to the invaluable Baby Name Wizard, it can be instructive just to poll a few people who work with very young children and ask what names are popular among your soon-to-be-born kid’s peers.
Since you have a Darcy, have you ever considered sticking with the literary theme?
Jane Austen:
Gardiner, Dawson, Denny, Morris, Benwick, Harville, Weston, Elton, Bertram, Thomas, Norris, Grant, Palmer.
Louisa May Alcott & L.M. Montgomery (Sorry, somehow these two were scrambled when I went to preview. How’d they rearrange themselves?!):
March, Blythe, Shirley (apparently this began as a boy’s names. Anne gives it to one of her boys), Stuart, Turner, Stirling, Kent, Miller, Lesley, Gibson, Carewe, Churchill, Holland, Campbell, Laurence, Brooke (I’ve known a girl and a man both with this name)
As stated above, my brother’s name is Carter and he was born in 1960. He has never been called or nicknamed “Jimmy”–not even when Mr Jimmy Carter was in office. The OP lives in NZ, so there is even less chance his son would be called after an American president.
It sounds like you want a 2 syllable name. That should help to narrow it down. You could also go to the library and check out baby name books. Just a thought.
Thanks. Actual useful suggestion.
I like Piano for a name, ideally pronounced “Piarno.”
If Carter grew up to be a truck driver, that would be totally cool… even better than when I met Laurie* the truck driver.
Darcy and Carter sound way more like sibling names than Darcy and Tiano. That probably shouldn’t be a factor in your decision but I know some people do take it into account.
Hayden is miles better than Kayden. Kayden, like Jayden, has been thoroughly claimed by the bogan set so unless that’s the association you were going for, be warned. Caravan parks across the nation reverberate to the shrill calls of “Kaiddyn! Breehyanna! Get ya arses in here now! Ya fries are gettin’ cold!”
Conde, with or without accents, sounds far too much like a girl’s name and I imagine it might become a sore subject for the bearer.
I’m still backing Christiano. At least you get your unusual name (Tiano) and he gets the option to be a common, everyday, garden variety Chris when he grows up if he’s not as unique and non-conformist as his old man.
- I just know someone out there will ask so: Laurie sounds like Lorry. Yes, I’m easily amused. My job at the logistic company wasn’t exactly intellectually stimulating and I had lots of free time and no internet access.
I also love the name Ulysses - although I named my cat that, so it’s kind of out for any human children I may have 
Yeah, classical names are great and they should be in circulation. Here are a few suggestions for boys names.
[ul]
[li]Alcibiades[/li][li]Orestes[/li][li]Telemachus[/li][li]Herodotus[/li][li]Themistocles[/li][li]Lysander[/li][li]Solon[/li][li]Diomedes[/li][li]Cimon[/li][li]Theseus[/li][li]Xerxes[/li][li]Nicias[/li][li]Diogenes [/li][li]Menelaus[/li][li]Paris[/li][li]Agamemnon[/li][/ul]
These are male names that have been out of style for quite a long time. They should be brought back!