I’m not planning to have children any time soon, but I have a handful of boys’ names that have been favourites for years. I’m interested in your honest opinions! Girls’ names seem a whole lot easier- partly this is because women outnumber men by more than 2:1 in the extended family, and [name]James[/name], [name]Alexander[/name], [name]John[/name], and [name]Robert[/name] cover pretty much every male my hypothetical son(s) would be related to. So if anyone has any suggestions, that would be great! I like names with a long history which aren’t currently spiking in popularity, but their absolutely popularity isn’t that important to me. So I’d use [name]James[/name] and maybe [name]Henry[/name], but might avoid [name]Oliver[/name] and [name]Jude[/name].
[name]Arthur[/name] [name]Robin[/name]
[name]John[/name] [name]Fergus[/name] ([name]Gus[/name])
[name]Jerome[/name] [name]Alistair[/name] ([name]Jem[/name])
[name]Hugh[/name] [name]Archibald[/name]
[name]Chester[/name] [name]Seumas[/name]/[name]Hamish[/name]/[name]James[/name] ([name]Chet[/name]) - I prefer the sound of [name]Chester[/name] [name]James[/name] here, but the initials CS or CH. Which is probably daft, but nevertheless…a factor
[name]Arthur[/name] [name]Robin[/name] - love this! Really cute, both are gorgeous names.
[name]John[/name] [name]Fergus[/name] ([name]Gus[/name]) - NMS, but still good names
[name]Jerome[/name] [name]Alistair[/name] ([name]Jem[/name]) - really dislike [name]Jerome[/name], [name]Alistair[/name] is lovely
[name]Hugh[/name] [name]Archibald[/name] - love this too! I prefer [name]Hugo[/name] to [name]Hugh[/name], but it’s still a lovely combo
[name]Chester[/name] [name]Seumas[/name]/[name]Hamish[/name]/[name]James[/name] - I’d prefer [name]James[/name] as a FN, or [name]Hamish[/name] [name]James[/name] as a combo. I can’t stand [name]Chester[/name], sorry.
Your list seems to have a few Scottish names in there, so my suggestions are: [name]Angus[/name], [name]Malcolm[/name], [name]David[/name], [name]Alasdair[/name], [name]Gordon[/name], [name]Blair[/name], [name]Ewan[/name], [name]Callum[/name], [name]Bruce[/name], [name]Lewis[/name], [name]Andrew[/name], [name]Rory[/name], [name]Colin[/name], [name]Kenneth[/name], [name]Douglas[/name], [name]Lachlan[/name], [name]Ivan[/name], [name]Mungo[/name], Murdoch, [name]Stuart[/name]
[name]John[/name] is an interesting option - utterly well known, yet not, I don’t think, in the top hundred US? Not massively more popular in the UK as far as I know. I like [name]John[/name], actually.
I like [name]Arthur[/name] but not [name]Robin[/name], as I find [name]Robin[/name] either NNish for [name]Robert[/name] or rather girly. [name]Robert[/name] is a good one for timeless but not currently fashionable.
[name]Jerome[/name] is undeniably classic but it doesn’t do anything for me. I prefer [name]Jeremiah[/name], which is saying something because I don’t really like [name]Jeremiah[/name] compared to my favourite J boys names. [name]Alistair[/name]/[name]Alastair[/name] is really nice, I like it.
[name]Hugh[/name] is wonderful and not having the popularity spike [name]Hugo[/name] is.
[name]Chester[/name] is ripe for [name]Chester[/name]-the-Molester teasing, unfortunately. I like [name]Hamish[/name] very much and [name]James[/name] is okay but not as interesting as [name]Hamish[/name] or as underused currently as [name]John[/name]. It’s the ultra-safe option: classic and “in” simultaneously, no risk of anybody going “why would you name him THAT.” [name]James[/name] is especially overused, [name]IMO[/name], as a middle name, because its one syllable and smooth and sort of the [name]Rose[/name]/[name]Grace[/name] of boys names. I would prefer [name]Joel[/name] for the same job as everyone picks [name]James[/name].
Other names that are classic and not trending:
[name]Nicholas[/name] and [name]Dominic[/name], kept together because I’d call either one [name]Nick[/name].
[name]Patrick[/name]
[name]Victor[/name]
[name]Philip[/name]
[name]Edmund[/name]
[name]Vincent[/name]
[name]Lewis[/name]
[name]Arthur[/name] [name]Robin[/name] - love it
[name]John[/name] [name]Fergus[/name] ([name]Gus[/name]) - [name]Love[/name] [name]Gus[/name] and [name]John[/name] is a classic. I prefer [name]Angus[/name] to [name]Fergus[/name]
[name]Jerome[/name] [name]Alistair[/name] ([name]Jem[/name]) - these feel like they’re from 2 worlds (the only [name]Jerome[/name]'s I’ve known are black guys and the only [name]Alistair[/name]'s I’ve heard of are British guys interested in things like antiques.) I like the nn [name]Jem[/name] though
[name]Hugh[/name] [name]Archibald[/name] - I love [name]Hugh[/name], also [name]Hugo[/name], [name]Archibald[/name] isn’t bad.
[name]Chester[/name] [name]Seumas[/name]/[name]Hamish[/name]/[name]James[/name] ([name]Chet[/name]) - I like [name]Chester[/name] [name]Seamus[/name].
I agree- but with the surname in mind, it’s not quite [name]John[/name] [name]Smith[/name] or [name]John[/name] [name]Brown[/name], but close. Not sure I could do that, even if he’d be the only one his age [name]Ianto[/name]'s my favourite [name]John[/name]-related name, but he wouldn’t have enough Welsh in him to justify it, I don’t think!
