We named #1 son Robert, and always called him Rob. Only one person ever called him Robbie–his pediatrician, who is from New Zealand. I don’t like Robbie or Bobby or even Bob. He likes Rob and has stuck with it–he’s 15.
#2 son is Johnathan, but we call him John.
Daughter is Laura.
I have a strong dislike for nicknames that end in -y or -ie, so no Lauries, Johnnies etc in this house.
I know someone who named her boys Eric and Brian, to avoid nicknames. One is called Ric at school, now, and the other is the Bri-ster. Good luck with the no nicks!
Y’know, as the mother of two, I have to say, you just can’t overthink it. Do avoid the obvious bad ones that sound like strippers or Mafia thugs, and be aware of the initials (I had one friend in school whose initials were SOB, and of course we all figured that out right quick.) But you won’t really be able to gauge future popularity. Names pop insanely quickly sometimes, and you end up with the common name even while everyone around you is telling you your baby’s name is so unusual. You have absolutely ZERO control over nicknames. None, nada, zilch, zip.
I had precisely the three criteria above (which is why I quoted them) when naming my son in January of 1993. I chose Kyle. Everyone commented on how unusual and nice it was. By 1st grade, there where 3 other Kyle’s in his class. I just happened to slip into some mysterious baby-naming zeitgeist. If you look it up on the really neato Baby Name Wizard, you’ll see a huge spike in the early '90s. I have no idea why. I personally was a Kyle McLachlan fan, but he wasn’t *that *popular.
Still, at least there’s no way to make Kyle into a nickname, right? Wrong. He’s now Kigh or Kay. We get all sorts o’ roll eyes for calling him Kyle.
So choose something you like. I can personally guarantee that at least 25% of the general population will hate it anyway, no matter what it is. Either it’s too common or too unusual or too modern or too old-fashioned or too weird or it’s spelled wrong or whatever. You’re the person who’s going to be saying it the most, so let it be something you like.
Though my first thought was of “Mr. Darcy”, my second thought was, “Wouldn’t that be a girl’s name?” Of course, the only Darcy I know IRL is a female german shepherd. But seeing as you are down under, you do everything opposite, right?
Names are such a personal choice. For example, I’m always surprised when I hear someone calling their kid by some formal multi-syllabic monniker like Nathaniel, Sebastian or something. But if that is what they like, who am I to criticize. I’ll bet 90% of the time we call each of our kids by the one-syllable version of their name. That’s just the way we talk.
Just looking at the list you gave, I note that 3 of them are 2 syllables, ending in a long-e sound. IMO such names sound like a diminuitive form, and suggest something like youth or familiarity. I don’t understand John-Paul. Strikes me as 2 names more than one. Which leaves George - a fine utilitarian one syllable name. And no one could ever come up with a nickname for little Georgie porgie, pudding and pie!
I think my kids like the extent to which their names “mean” something - like either they come from a song, or a character in a book, a historical figure or author you respect - instead of just being something we dreamt up because we liked the sound of it. I also think you have more leeway to “be creative” with middle names. Ont thing to think of is if a name can say something about you and/or your wife, your interests, etc. For example, we really like to garden, and I imagine we could have used Gardener/Gardner as a middle name. SOmething like that.
You realise you’re adding to my quiet hell by spelling Johnathan like that right? It is a very uncommon spelling, in fact I’d never seen it spelt like that unless other people were spelling my name incorrectly, up until now that is.
Traditionally John and Jonathan were quite separate names. But, this is not your problem, you have the right to spell your son’s name however you wish,
It is… I, who must deal with the consequences of your actions, the pervasive butchering of my given name, the innocent looks when corrected, the surprised comments, “oh, you spell it that way, isn’t that unusual!”, um, no it’s not unusual, it’s the way it is spelt, along with the less asthetically pleasing Jonathon, unless of course, you were the love child of Lennon and McCartney. Look at all the lonely people, where do they all come from? From parents who facilitate the corruption and mutilation of a perfectly good name, that’s where!
Ditto to Princhester’s comments on nicknames. Dave becomes Dave-o, Daryl becomes Dazz, Dazz is Dazzler, and Dazzler is Dazzo, Sharon is Shazza or Shez or Shaz, Bob is Bobby, Bobby is Bob-o, Warren is Wozza, Wes is Wezzo and so on.
If you were to pass the Prime Minister in the street you’d quite likely hear someone call out “G’day Johnno!”
My son is named Terry. He’s a Jr - his father was not a Terrence, or a Terrell, or anything but a Terry - and for years it’s been a battle for people to understand that his name is ONLY Terry. Like I wouldn’t know what I named the kid… :rolleyes:
Oh yeah - Edward would be a good name, as would Matthew or William or Timothy.
Not that I have family members with those names or anything…
Or Elmer. My mom’s dad was named Elmer…can’t make a nickname outta THAT!!
My friend Susan (not her real name) and her husband had a baby recently who only survived a few hours after he was born. This had been anticipated for about half the pregnancy, so it was tragic but not shocking. And it has been determined that whatever caused this baby to not develop properly was a fluke, not something with a 1 in 4 chance of repeating itself.
But how do you give a name to a child whom you don’t expect to live? Susan couldn’t look at a baby name book after she found out the prognosis, so they were stuck considering names they’d already thought about. And given that she had expected several more months to ponder, that didn’t leave a whole lot of names.
So they ended up going with one which they would not have given to a healthy baby, for fear of nicknames. It’s a perfectly servicable name, it’s just one of those that usually gets shortened with a y on the end for a small child, then as he grows up he drops the y. But Susan has an illogical aversion to the short forms of this particular name (I know it’s illogical becuase she said so.) And they gave the baby a middle name which is quite common in the family. And if they have another son, which they hope to, that son will get a first name which has not yet been chosen, and then his deceased older brother’s first name as his middle name.
Susan felt kind of guilty about middle-naming the kid (As in, giving the kid a name she would otherwise only use as a middle name). But on the other hand, she had problems with the idea of naming her son after a relative. (Hey, Uncle Joe, want a namesake who will only live 3 hours?) Or with “using up” a name on her doomed baby. And she couldn’t, emotionaly, look at a baby name book without mourning or raging over the fact that this baby would not be born healthy and filled with potential.
It wasn’t funny, because nothing about the process of pregnancy and giving birth to a baby that almost no one would blame you for not taking to term is funny. But on the other hand, there was this element of humor, just in that sense of “Susan, sweetie, you are way overthinking this. Baby won’t care what his name is.”
I do love the name Darcy! Please don’t take this the wrong way but if my dog was a male I was going to name him Darcy after Mr. Darcy. It doesn’t sound like a dogs name I just like it. Maybe a tad feminine.
I also love the name Charlie. I’m a little biased because it was my Dad’s name.
Except for my Mom most people called him Charles. I like Charlie and Charles.
I don’t think Robbie or Charlie sound childish at all.
I think my favorite out of your list is John-Paul. People might shorten it to John or JP, but it’s a nice name.
All the names you selected are nice and not names that most kids would object to as being cutesy. My nephew has a popular name and when he was young wanted everyone to call him Mike because he said his name sounded girly.
Perhaps this belongs in the “things only you find funny” thread, but I’ve been snorting helplessly for the last few minutes over calling a Joel “Mole.”
I like Adam. It’s a good solid name and one that doesn’t immediately lend itself to nicknames (though I’m sure they’ll come, depending on the child’s friends, family and personality.)
We ended up choosing a name for our son that was #395 on the SS name list for 2005 - I didn’t know of any others (except someone on a message board - her son also shares the name). Now, I’ve heard of two others, and several other women on my parenting board who are considering it for their next babies. I think it’s rather cool because it’s not like there are ever going to be THAT many kids who share his name.
As far as nicknames, there will always be nicknames. No matter what the name - kids will find a way to make a nickname out of it.
I have a friend whose name is Vernay. It’s a family name, he’s the III. Still, I think it’s a fairly cool name though I imagine that if you shortened it to Vern it wouldn’t seem quite so cool. Know what I mean?
Oh, if I had known…I never realized (until afterwards) how many variation there were to this name. I spelled it that way for two reasons: 1. that is the way it is spelled in a favorite children’s book I loved to read (From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler for the curious), and also because my FIL–who can be a bit of a pain–said that if we named the baby Jonathan, we couldn’t nickname him John, but it would have to be Jon. I loathe Jon–it looks incomplete to me, somehow. So, I stuck an “h” in, to make all happy. He is really only called John, unless he has commited a major transgression, when “Johnathan Douglas XXXX” rolls off my tongue quiet nicely.
I wanted to name him Nathan or Nathaniel. Husband wanted John, so we compromised…
Look at it this way–at least they PRONOUNCE your name correctly. No one (almost) can say “Eleanor”. There are 3 syllables, folks. Count 'em. It’s not “Elner”. (drives me nuts, that one).
Yes, but are you EL-en-or or EL-en-er? I know people who pronounce it both ways. I know 3 Aileen’s: Ay-LEEN, AY-leen, and Uh-LEEN.
As for our older kid, we did a list and then narrowed it down to about 4 names and for about a month or so of my pregnancy we called the baby a different thing every day (we knew we were having a boy, so that made it a little easier). We ruled out names that way and kept the one we liked the best (Aaron, no nickname). The younger is named for Benjamin Franklin, so he’s usually Ben.
