I don’t know about first names. But. The best middle name ever for a boy is:
Uppercut.
Seriously bad ass.
Or, for rich people,
uppercrust
Maybe I can split the difference and call him Uppercuss.
Hmm, this is tough as I usually prefer ethnic names. I take it Mrs. Bright isn’t down for an Indian-inspired name? Maybe you can find one that is subtle.
Barring any family members that you may want to honor, I’d go with an author or book character that you particularly like.
I’d go for Thomas, Alexander, or Raskolnikov. Your mileage may vary wildly.
<nitpick>Aloysius</nitpick>
I once knew a guy called Wolf. That’s a name that’s awesomewicked no matter whether he turns out to be a quarterback or a computer geek.
Name 'im Poops!
I miss the Doper who used to do that.
Am I the only one who read the thread title with a comma that isn’t there? As in: “Name my hypothetical, baby!” I’m not interested in baby names, I was going to suggest a name for the cool new hypothetical you had thought of.
To keep on topic, however, I love the suggestion of Vartan. It sounds kind of Indian even though it isn’t, it is easy to spell, and I although I have never heard it before, it is not ridiculous or pretentious (IMO). The only disadvantage is the nickname problem, but kids will turn almost any name into a cruel nickname of some kind. If you don’t use that for the first name, you have to use it as a middle name. I would use it myself but it doesn’t work with my surname.
Please don’t use Duncan!
Every Miles I have ever met has been a seriously cool human being.
bbs2k. He/she is still around but for some reason has stopped suggestion Poops as a name. I miss him/her too. That suggestion always made me laugh no matter how many times I saw it.
You mean the leads in Twilight are Beautiful Swan and Edward Handsome?
vomits
Kreative, no? 
Rockpucher. Rockpuncher Bearkiller <Lastname>.
More seriously, I like Cliff, Ivan, and Vartan.
ETA: Alexander is also good. As long as you don’t spell it like ‘Alekzandre’ or anything like that, because if you do, I’ll have to bitch slap you. I don’t want to, but thems the rules.
Aaron Nicholas
[Homer Simpson]Yeah, nothing rhymes with Vartan.[/Homer Simpson]
I like Alexander but alliterative first name/surname combinations annoy the hell out of me and my surname starts with an A.
She’s down, but I couldn’t think of one that plays as well in Western culture as mine, and I’m not naming my kid after myself (though he gets my name as his middle name).
I was considering naming my son Wolfgang when he was born (around the time the movie “Amadeus” came out) so I could call him Wolfie. I was also considering the name Thor. Now he’s mad I didn’t name him that.
(from before - I was thinking of Ethan Allen - mountain man; not Ethan Frome.)
As someone who has had to leaf through hundreds of resumes a few times in my life, something slightly unusual, (but with no more than one “q”) can be a big plus. Don’t fall for the jerks who will encourage you to choose a name in accordance with the tastes of the bigots who might otherwise “hold him down” in life.
A few guidelines:
Substituting a “y” for the usual vowel in an otherwise common name does not add interest.
Most forms have only 9 spaces for first name letters.
Using three or more syllables invites nick naming
In these discussions, always keep in mind who will be pushing the baby out.
I’m not worried about the ones who might hold him down in life. I’m worried about the ones who might hold him down in the locker room so they can write on his forehead.
Are you completely against Indian names for the boy? Scanning some that I saw online, here are a few I thought were neat and might work well with your surname:
Bharat
Chandran
Dev (and variants thereof-- there seems to be a lot of Dev[suffix] names!)
Garry (is this pronounced a little like the English “Gary”, but with more of an “arr” bit going on in the first syllable?)
Hemal
Jag
Kumar (Yeah, I know, there’s a stoner movie with a main character named Kumar, but I like the name anyway)
Kush
Lucas (Really?)
Manoj
Praket
Ravi/Ravindra
Tanoj
As for Western names, there’s a ton of them that could work. As for that “Rotary Club” feel, I’d go with ones that are traditional sounding but stay ahead of the curve. For me, that’d be stuff like:
Barlow
Barrett
Bennett
Charles
Parker
Philip
Rafe
Ian
George
Spencer/Spenser