I’m having trouble coming up with a name for baby #4 that hubby and I both like. I’ve already posted in the girls’ forum because we aren’t sure yet whether we are having a girl or boy and having equal trouble with both genders! As far as boys’ names, the only one my DH really loves is Titus. At first, I hated it… mentioned it to my mom and the first thing out of her mouth was “It sounds like ‘Tight-@$$’!!” I’m also not sure about NNs since the only thing that really works is ‘Ty’ - very cute, but it happens to also be my husband’s NN. However, all this aside the name is growing on me… I love strong Hebrew names (we are Christians and many Hebrew names really suit our style, plus have beautiful meanings that honor our faith) and I think Titus is unique and masculine without sounding too harsh. It also goes with our son’s name (Timothy). Other than Timothy we have two daughters, Eliana and Aaralyn. As you can probably tell, I like names that aren’t overly common, but I also place high value on the meaning of a name. Without disregarding Titus, I’d like to consider more names before we agree on that one. We do have a list going so I thought I’d share it and see what you all think… plus give the opportunity for more suggestions which I might not have thought of.
Already vetoed from the list by DH are Phineas (because of that stupid show Phineas & Ferb!!), Gabriel, Thaddeus, Solomon, Noah, Theodore, Callan, Gideon & Isaiah.
Boy names:
**Titus (Greek: Honorable, Pleasing)
**Isaac (Hebrew: Laughter)
Cohen (Hebrew: Priest)
Callum (Gaelic: Spirit of peace, Dove)
Levi (Hebrew: “To join”)
Elijah (Hebrew: Jehovah is God)
Liam (Hebrew: “My people”, Germanic “Helmet, protection”)
Felix (Latin: Happy, Blessed)
Ezra (Hebrew: “Helper”)
Joshua (Hebrew: “Yahweh is salvation”) - NN Joss rather than Josh
Cadmus (Greek: He who excels)
Cal/Calvin (Latin: little hairless one - this is my dad’s name)
Maximus (Max) - Greek: Great
Sebastian (after san sebastian, spain - where my hubby and I met) - Greek: revered (DH thinks this would be better as a middle name but I just love it as a first name…)
Tyrus (Hebrew: Rock, strength)
Middle name ideas
Daniel (Hebrew: God is my judge)
Calvin
Alexander (Greek: Defender)
James (Supplanter)
Benjamin (Hebrew: Son of the right hand)
Sebastian
oooh me too. Convincing my slightly more name-conservative husband that using the first name [name]Sebastian[/name] is not a cruel thing to do to our child is the issue! He wanted ‘[name]Luke[/name]’ at first… which is a lovely name but doesn’t go with the other three names at all… he’s also mentioned [name]Joshua[/name] a few times but it just seems that every second guy you meet from age 3-30 is named [name]Joshua[/name] or [name]Josh[/name], which puts me off a bit. I was so surprised when he came out with ‘[name]Titus[/name]’ because it’s so abnormal compared to his usual preferences for boys’ names!
What does he think is so bad about [name]Sebastian[/name]?! This is one of my absolutely favorite names but it rhymes with our last name so I can’t use it. This is SUCH a COOL name! It has cool nns (Sebi, Bash, [name]Bastian[/name], [name]Seb[/name]) and I love it even more (which I didn’t think was possible) because it has personal meaning for you two!!! It would be so sad to me if you didn’t get to use this name.
Sorry, I don’t actually have any suggestions, I just had to speak up for [name]Sebastian[/name]. We also loved [name]Maximilian[/name] for our son before he was born (because we love the name but also because it’s the name of a Polish saint who has a brave story), but again – rhymes with our last name and has some of the same sounds so it would have been super rhymey and repetitive. That’s another top name on my list though. [name]How[/name] I would [name]LOVE[/name] to meet a little [name]Maximilian[/name] or [name]Sebastian[/name].
Also, though you can’t argue your mother’s point about [name]Titus[/name], I think it’s a common enough name (or at least commonly known) that most people do not think that instinctively. And also, I actually think [name]Luke[/name] goes quite well with [name]Timothy[/name], which is common but not overly used. [name]Both[/name] great classic names in my opinion.
A lot of the names on your list are great options. [name]Elijah[/name] sounds particularly good with [name]Timothy[/name].
I would probably avoid [name]Titus[/name] and [name]Tyrus[/name]. If your other son is [name]Timothy[/name], the names sound a bit overly precious together. I would also avoid [name]Cohen[/name], since it is a surname that denotes a special status in the Jewish religion. If you go with [name]Joshua[/name], there will probably always be one or two other Joshuas in his classes at school , if that makes a difference to you.
What about [name]Caedmon[/name], [name]Philemon[/name], or [name]Ezekiel[/name]. They are all a bit more obscure names from Christianity. Oh, and [name]Obadiah[/name] is a cool name with the nickname [name]Obe[/name].
I would love to see [name]Phillip[/name] with [name]Timothy[/name]! [name]Titus[/name] is not my fav simply because I always get hung up on the first 3 letters of the name. From your list, I love:
Wow, I was out of the loop with the name Cohen - I guess I don’t know my name history as well as most… I’ve heard it used once before and thought it was cute, and when I did a quick search and saw that it was of Hebrew origin and means “priest” I was excited! That’s sad. I certainly don’t want to offend anyone with my son’s name and though we are not Jewish we do highly respect the Jewish culture and honor their religion… Sigh. Thanks everyone for all the great feedback! Peppersprout I do love all the names you suggested as well, but I think they are too obscure for DH… I forgot to add Ezekiel to the vetoed list before but that was actually one I liked a lot originally as well! Philemon and Philip are both beautiful choices but we have bad associations with the name Phil, and though I’ll have to face the fact that someday I’m sure Timothy will go by “Tim”, I don’t think I could handle a name like Philemon or even Philip being butchered by shortening it to Phil!!! I would kind of like to use the name Calvin because it’s my dad’s name, but DH doesn’t love it as a first name and I’m not sure it flows as well with some of our other names if we were to use it as a middle name. I also am not crazy about the meaning of Calvin but I like the name, and I especially like the nickname Cal for a little boy which is why I keep coming up with “Cal__” names. I haven’t found that many that don’t sound totally made up though… and in our area there are SO many Calebs, plus tons of combinations of Kale/Cale, Caelen/Kaelen/Callan/Callen, Keenan Caanan, Keegan etc etc. I thought of Calhoun but DH hated it and to be honest I don’t actually like it that much either except for the “Cal” part! lol. I do have some girl options using Cal though, which might work better instead of using it as a boy name.
Also, with the name Titus I think it would be naive to assume he would NEVER get any nasty comments, but I do think it’s a fairly well known name because of the football player Titus Young and because people often know the Biblical reference - also, we homeschool our kids so we don’t have the problem of 26 other kids 5 days a week looking for a target… though of course there will be plenty of other opportunities for jabs in various other social settings, so I suppose we can’t entirely avoid it! :rolleyes:
ANYWAY, looking over everything that’s been mused over so far, I think my current faves are:
Isaac Alexander G
Isaac Sebastian G
Sebastian Alexander G
Sebastian James G
Titus Calvin G
Titus James G
Titus Alexander G
Maximilian (Max) James G
Joshua (Joss) Daniel G
Elijah Daniel G - nickname Eli… but DH is close to Vetoing this one too because he thinks it’s too similar to Eliana (we call her Ellie/Elle so that is fairly similar…)
Callum (Cal) James G
Calvin (Cal) Alexander G
Liam Sebastian G
Levi Sebastian G
If you like the sound of [name]Cohen[/name], you could use [name]Coen[/name], which has the same pronunciation (I believe) but a totally different history and derivation.
When you mentioned [name]Cal[/name] names, I thought of a couple that could get you [name]Cal[/name], but their very Gaelic and not commonly known here. I think they’re easier than other Gaelic names though; I actually have cousins with both of these names and one of them goes by [name]Cal[/name]: [name]Cathal[/name] ([name]CA[/name]-(t)Hull – the tH sound is kind of like a hard, gutteral H so the t isn’t really noticeable) and [name]Conall[/name] (like [name]Connor[/name], but with “uhl” instead of “er”). I also like [name]Callum[/name] and don’t think there are too many of those running around.
I like the following:
[name]Titus[/name] - I do like this name, it sounds masculine and strong nad has a wonderful meaning
[name]Isaac[/name] - [name]Love[/name] it, the young boy [name]Isaac[/name] I know is sweet, charming and well behaved, plus extremely clever!
[name]Levi[/name] - Have always loved this name
[name]Elijah[/name] - Great name, where I live someone actually named their daughter this, it was really weird to me b/c it’s a boy name, but I guess whatever works for some people
[name]Joshua[/name] - [name]Love[/name] it, however not sure if I would use [name]Joss[/name] as a nn [name]Joss[/name] is sometimes used as a nn for [name]Jocelyn[/name]
[name]Liam[/name] - While I really like this name it feels more popular than what you are looking for.
[name]Felix[/name] - [name]Love[/name] this name, it’s growing on me lately, it just feels plain happy go lucky, lol…
Here’s our slughtly more whittled down list as it stands…
Siblings:
Eliana Joy
Timothy Patrick
Aaralyn Rayne
AND…
Boys:
Titus Alexander
Titus James
Titus Daniel
Titus Gabriel
Titus Sebastian
Isaac James
Isaac Alexander
Isaac Sebastian
Joshua Alexander
Joshua Sebastian
Calvin Alexander
Calvin Isaac
Levi Daniel
Levi Sebastian
Levi Alexander
Sebastian James
Sebastian Cal
Sebastian Alexander
A few others that I like but hubby isn’t necessarily sold on:
Felix
Cadmus
Maximus
Liam
Coen
Leo
Elijah I love and it flows well with our last name… unfortunately it probably does sound too much like our first daughter’s name (eliana) so we probably won’t use it as a first name.
Callum was vetoed because it sounds awkward with the cadence of our last name and hubby isn’t a big fan of it. Sad because I agree with catheyc that it’s a great ‘Cal’ name! Caleb is another great ‘Cal’ name but it’s just too popular I think. I have a few close friends now that have named their sons Caleb so I feel like we should steer clear of it to avoid so much repetition.
My husband still loves Titus and to be honest it is growing on me too. I actually really like the way the name flows with our last name and I love the meaning… it also fits into a theme with all the girls in our family having vowel names and all the guys having T names… and I’m nerdy like that so that sort of appeals to me… haha
Other than my mom (who said it sounds like “tight ass”) everyone we’ve mentioned it to has actually responded surprisingly positively to the name (which shocked me because they were fairly quick to shoot down Calvin and Joshua and say they didn’t flow with our other kids’ names, etc). I think because of the football player and the growing popularity of Biblical names it must be becoming a more socially accepted name… though it’s still quite unique. I know only two people named Titus (other than the football player) to date - one is 30 and one is a newborn at my sister’s church. The 30 year old says he’s always really liked his name and wasn’t teased for it as a kid either, so I’m starting to feel more comfortable with it… we’ll see!
With your sibset, my favorite of your options is [name]Sebastian[/name] [name]Alexander[/name]. [name]Sebastian[/name] is well-balanced with [name]Timothy[/name] in that it’s got a kind of complex delicacy, but it’s also a completely serious, historic name. Aaralyn and [name]Eliana[/name] are both so ultra-feminine, that I’d find [name]Maximus[/name], [name]Titus[/name], [name]Cadmus[/name], [name]Calvin[/name], even [name]Levi[/name] and [name]Isaac[/name] too consonant-heavy and out of place.
I also like both of your [name]Joshua[/name] combinations. [name]Joshua[/name] has a gentleness that’s similar to [name]Timothy[/name], but I think [name]Sebastian[/name] is a bit more interesting as a first name. [name]Sebastian[/name] [name]Leo[/name] could be nice.
That’s so cool that you two met in San [name]Sebastian[/name]…my husband and I went on our honeymoon there! It’s an amazing city! And I do love [name]Sebastian[/name] as a name as well (possibly influenced by how much I loved that city…). [name]Sebastian[/name] [name]Alexander[/name] is perfect; it’s a very handsome name, and I think it goes well with [name]Eliana[/name], [name]Timothy[/name], and Aralyn. I also like [name]Isaac[/name] [name]Sebastian[/name] or [name]Isaac[/name] [name]Alexander[/name].
Hmm…
[name]Titus[/name] - personally I really dislike the name I think I agree with your mum.
[name]Isaac[/name] - A gorgeous classic with a lovely meaning the name sounds so handsome with [name]Timothy[/name], [name]Eliana[/name] & Aralyn
[name]Cohen[/name] - This is a sacred name within the Jewish faith. I hate that people are now viewing [name]Cohen[/name] as fashionable and using it, I understand that your [name]Christian[/name] but I wouldn’t use it.
[name]Callum[/name] - A gorgeous Gaelic inspired name, I also love the nickname ‘[name]Cal[/name]’ too.
[name]Levi[/name] - It’s a stunning name, my favourite boy’s name in the whole world. [name]Levi[/name] is so soft and natural. Very handsome.
[name]Elijah[/name] - Another brilliant name. [name]Elijah[/name] sounds lovely and I also love the nickname [name]Eli[/name].
[name]Liam[/name] - Another great classic really lovely.
[name]Felix[/name] - This name is very spunky vintage and timely. The name sounds brilliant.
[name]Ezra[/name] - I also love [name]Ezra[/name] another brilliant Hebrew name, that has a great attitude.
[name]Joshua[/name] - I love the name [name]Joshua[/name] she sounds really soft and wholesome.
[name]Cadmus[/name] - I find this name so unattractive.
[name]Calvin[/name] - This name is really growing on me, but I’m not totally settled on it.
[name]Maximus[/name] - I dislike this as well my least favourite [name]Max[/name] name.
[name]Sebastian[/name] - again another name I dislike.
[name]Tyrus[/name] - I dislike this name.
Top choices for your family:
[name]Isaac[/name] [name]Calvin[/name]
[name]Levi[/name] [name]Alexander[/name]
[name]Elijah[/name] [name]James[/name]
[name]Ezra[/name] [name]Benjamin[/name]
[name]Joshua[/name] [name]James[/name]
I think the Hebrew choices would be brilliant for you guys and really round of the sibling set.
I’m also not sure about NNs since the only thing that really works is ‘Ty’ - very cute, but it happens to also be my husband’s NN. However, all this aside the name is growing on me… I love strong Hebrew names (we are Christians and many Hebrew names really suit our style, plus have beautiful meanings that honor our faith) and I think Titus is unique and masculine without sounding too harsh. It also goes with our son’s name (Timothy). Other than Timothy we have two daughters, Eliana and Aaralyn. As you can probably tell, I like names that aren’t overly common, but I also place high value on the meaning of a name. Without disregarding Titus, I’d like to consider more names before we agree on that one. We do have a list going so I thought I’d share it and see what you all think… plus give the opportunity for more suggestions which I might not have thought of.