So after much discussion, my husband and I finally narrowed down our list of names for our unborn baby boy. Out of a list of around 12, we narrowed it down to four, and think we may have even chosen a winner, but would like to know popular opinions, especially since bullying is so widespread these days; we wouldn’t want to saddle him with a name he will constantly get bullied for. Of course, kids can be incredibly cruel and he could get bullied regardless, and any creative bully could use any name as a tactic. But that doesn’t mean all names are easy to bully.
Keep in mind that the two middle names are not negotiable, they have much sentimental meaning to me. Mostly this is about the first name and how it sounds with the middle names.
The four runners up are:
[name_m]Alexander[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u]
[name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] (or [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u], we couldn’t decide which order sounded better)
[name_m]Luke[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u]
[name_u]River[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u]
Of those, we believe our winner is [name_u]River[/name_u], but aren’t 100% committed. Thoughts? Opinions? Is this name easy to bully? What about the other runners up?
I love slightly offbeat names and I love [name_u]River[/name_u], so I would probably have come to the same final decision as you. [name_u]River[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u] is incredibly handsome — I love the balance of quirky/modern first, family (?) middle, and uber-classic [name_u]James[/name_u] to round the whole combo out. The alliteration is fun too!
That said, it strikes me that [name_u]River[/name_u] is a different style from the rest of your top contenders. [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], [name_m]Peter[/name_m] and [name_m]Luke[/name_m] are all very solid, traditional picks, so [name_u]River[/name_u] does feel like something of a wildcard here. Is it a longtime love or a fairly recent crush? I only ask because I’d personally be worried about going with a fairly new name love that was quite a big departure from my usual style, in case it turned out to be a passing fancy and I ended up regretting not using one of my longtime favourites.
There’s also future sibling names to consider, if that’s something that’s important to you. [name_u]River[/name_u] and [name_m]Peter[/name_m] feels like a less natural set than, say, [name_u]River[/name_u] and [name_m]Fox[/name_m] — but, by the same token, eclectic sibsets can be extra cool and interesting because of their unexpectedness!
[name_m]Alexander[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u]-This is handsome. I think it may be difficult to use this without it being shortened to [name_u]Alex[/name_u]. [name_u]Alex[/name_u] is nice; just beware in case you don’t like it. I also love the nn [name_m]Dex[/name_m]!
[name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] (or [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u], we couldn’t decide which order sounded better)-I kind of like [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] better, but either way is good. I adore [name_m]Peter[/name_m] though! It’s a little more unexpected than [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] or [name_m]Luke[/name_m] on a kid these days.
[name_m]Luke[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u]-This is fine. I like it okay, but it doesn’t sparkle.
[name_u]River[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u]-This is my favorite from your list too. It’s just a cool name. I think it works well for a sensitive artist type or a rough and tumble outdoorsy guy. It’s less common than the others, but certainly simple enough.
Honestly, all these names are new contenders. We had never considered them for our other two, but this time around, all the unused contenders from the last two no longer sounded appealing. Our list this time mostly consisted of names from shows we both love, with one or two coming off of baby name websites.
We don’t really consider sibling names when choosing a name for each child. We know someday they’re each going to be their own individual person, and whether or not their names “go” together won’t matter for the majority of their lives.
I really love the sound and flow of [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] [name_u]James[/name_u] Raliegh. Handsome, strong and beautiful to say put loud. Personally I see [name_u]River[/name_u] as more of a girls name, however the combination [name_u]River[/name_u] Raliegh [name_u]James[/name_u] flows really nicely together.
[name_m]Alexander[/name_m] is by far my favorite and if you like nns, [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] has a whole bunch of great ones:
[name_u]Lex[/name_u]
[name_m]Xan[/name_m]/der
[name_m]Dex[/name_m]
[name_m]Anders[/name_m]
[name_m]Axel[/name_m]
I can see why you think that about [name_u]River[/name_u]. We got that idea from the show Firefly, which we both love, and the character is female. However, before Firefly was ever even released, I had known two different boys named [name_u]River[/name_u], so it always seemed like a boy name to me. I guess it’s one of those gender neutral names.
Thanks for all the input so far, I appreciate it. If anyone else has any thoughts, feel free to share!
I definitely think [name_u]River[/name_u] is unisex enough to be masculine. I love [name_u]River[/name_u] [name_u]Raleigh[/name_u] [name_u]James[/name_u]! Whatever you pick, it’ll be very handsome, you have a nice list
