So I know its recommended not to tell anyone your baby name before the baby is born, but I just like to refer to my children as their name once its decided. This baby is Hugo. I haven’t got any directly negative comments on it, but my MIL (she’s a good one) did tell me her father made some jokes and she asked what other names we were considering seemingly suggesting it’s not a good pick.
I do not want to go with anything else as I feel attached to my son being called Hugo at this point, but I just feel bad that I might be giving one child a “worse” name than the other as our Arthur never raised an eyebrow except with my typically toxic mother thinking it was “too grandpa” so I could easily ignore that. But my husband’s family are much kinder people so getting negative feedback is harder to deal with.
My husband’s grandfather is older and a lot of what he made jokes about are either hard stretches (suggesting people would tell him “Hugo f○ck off” as it sounds like “you go f○ck off” but that phrase typically drops the “you” or has a “can”) or maybe just out of date humor (brought up the Yugo car and made some not very nice comments about Yugoslavia I don’t personally know anything about, not to mention Hugo/Yugo are distinctly different.)
I don’t personally think its a problematic name, though it might be a name easier to work into jokes, I can see that, but with most names it can be done. We lovingly call Arthur “Farty Arty,” etc.
But knowing the larger family doesn’t like Hugo but loves Arthur’s name is just bumming me out. I want to give my sons equally amazing names and I thought I had until now. I know its a matter of taste and everyones tastes vary so I can’t make everyone happy but I was hoping indifference would be the worst of it as it was with Arthur.
Well first off, I love [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] and [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] and have both of them on my short list! But more practically when my cousin announced she was going to name her daughter [name_m]Blu[/name_m] [name_f]Pearl[/name_f] it raised more than a few eyebrows and opinions. [name_f]My[/name_f] cousin stuck to her guns and now none of us can imagine her by any other name. It suits her because it’s hers and we love her. It’s easy to have one opinion when it still feels like an “in theory” kind of name, but once it belongs to a cute little baby people will just be excited that he’s here.
I think [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] is such a handsome name, and an excellent match with [name_m]Arthur[/name_m]!
I agree with you that it’s not at all a problematic name, and to be honest I don’t think it’s much easier than [name_m]Arthur[/name_m] to work into jokes (or at least it isn’t common – I’ve never heard of a [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] being teased for his name). I second the previous commenter: your family will fall in love with his name when they meet him, because it will be the name of someone they love!
It’s hard to gage how people will really feel about the name until he’s here, it’s in writing, and it isn’t going to change. Your grandfather-in-law’s immediate reaction is when, in his mind, the name is still a hypothetical, but that will be different once baby is here. It will then become a person, a grandson, a son - someone they’d love - and, well, that positive connection can really change how you feel about something - and likely endear them to it or at least make them neutral. And, well, maybe grandfather-in-law has got it out of his system. He’s said the thing, and hopefully, if MIL didn’t join in with or encourage the joking, he’ll be able to read the room and get used to it.
[name_m]Hugo[/name_m] is a wonderful choice and I would say, try not to let this put you off.
I’m sorry your family is acting that way about the name, a lot of the jokes are very stretchy and outdated and as long as they are mature enough not to make them I don’t think your little [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] will have more trouble with his name than any other kid! Also, people warm up to names over time especially when they are associated with people they love and care about, especially since you say they are nice people, I’m sure this will be the case. If [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] feels right for your baby and you are in love with it then I say hold strong to that and keep your confidence about the name! [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] is a lovely name!! side note: I know it’s personally hard or irritating/hurtful when people make fun of your kids name. For me it feels kinda personal! So again I’m sorry you’re going through this and I hope it passes quickly!
You have given them equally amazing names. I have a [name_m]Liam[/name_m] which everyone LOVED when I was pregnant. I was meh but kept it because they all liked it; and [name_m]Rafferty[/name_m]. Nobody said anything overly negative, but it was clear it wasn’t being as well received. [name_f]My[/name_f] mother just said “oh… how did you come up with THAT?” And my niece said “that’s different lol” in a text message, so it obviously wasn’t for them haha. But I loved it and this time I persevered even with comments from family giving me some doubts about my choice (my dad’s new wife from Honduras tried to suggest [name_m]Rafael[/name_m] instead and my FIL either deliberately or just through lack of effort kept referring to him as random names like Flanagan). He’s nearly 6 months old and I am so glad I stuck to my guns. I didn’t call [name_m]Liam[/name_m] by his name for the first 12 months of his life because I felt like I’d made a mistake, but I am obsessed with Raff’s name and make excuses to use it all the time. We’ve also had a lot of positive comments from people who are a bit younger than our parents telling us how cool his name is and how they wish they’d thought of it for their own kid. I think my mum has even come around now that he’s here. The only sort of neg comment I’ve had since his birth was my dad saying that my grandmother still can’t wrap her head around [name_m]Rafferty[/name_m], but she’s 80 so whatever haha.
There is nothing at all wrong with [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] and it goes beautifully with [name_m]Arthur[/name_m]. [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] has had enough of a resurgence lately that nobody would bat an eye, and I think you will get positive comments from the wider community. Don’t change the name unless you want to. If you love [name_m]Hugo[/name_m], use it. You’ll regret using a name you don’t love as much just to make a couple of family members happy.
Ok I have so many thoughts as this feels like something I can relate to! Hopefully I don’t bore any one.
First of all as an aside, Arthur and Hugo are such perfect brothers. So well stylistically matched, while being distinctive and individual.
And this is too funny! Arty is so cute.
Ok, on to your point. I only have one child so cannot relate or speak to the part of one having a “better/easier” name than the other. What I can speak to is naming my child a name I knew might not be well or easily received. My child has a very uncommon name, think - never been in top 1000, most people don’t recognize it. I know it is not my in laws cup of tea. They are traditional namers, prefer common or well known trends, make comments on other people’s unusual choices. That all being said, they have never made a negative comment on my child’s name as they are much too respectful of us and in love with our child! (It may make a difference that they only learned the name after our child was already born.) They do usually call her by a somewhat more familiar nickname which my SO and I chose for her for people who struggle with her full name.
After that explanation, here is my way of dealing with it! I like to view my child’s name as a way of opening people’s minds, especially on names. I like to tell people about her name, what it means, how we came up with it. Maybe it will open someone’s world (name?) view just a tiny bit, one name at a time! I’m not sure that makes any sense, but it’s one way I look at the situation.
Late to this but just to say I have two family members called Hugo, one on each side, and I see it as a charming, clever & cheeky/pluckish name. It’s picked up over the last decade too so I don’t think anyone of your son’s peers are going go make those jokes; they’ll be familiar with the name l, and it’ll go with all the Henrys, Theos, Arthurs, Augusts & Freddies etc. It’s a very cool choice!
I just wanted to add, we are American so [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] is significantly rarer here than in the UK or AUS as I’ve noticed a lot of the replies are from those countries where it’s more mainstream. We’re still going with [name_m]Hugo[/name_m], but it is still about #415 in the US making it unlikely his peers will know another [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] or that he’ll meet more than a couple of his whole life unless it really catches on, though I think that’s unlikely as it peaked here in 1890 at #259. But I don’t think bullying over his name is necessarily likely. Most people who hear it just think of [name_m]Hugo[/name_m] [name_m]Boss[/name_m].
Yeah you’re right, it’s more familiar in Aus/UK but I still think your child’s [name_f]Gen[/name_f] will be full of those dapper, turn of century names. It’s possible he gets teased a little (eg my brother once told my cousin to “Hugo home” when he was at our house almost every afternoon for about three years straight) but I don’t see the teasing potential as high or like it’ll stick (no one ruse said what my brother said!). Either way, I’m glad you’re keeping on - it’s a fab name! It gives automatic charisma points!
side note: I know it’s personally hard or irritating/hurtful when people make fun of your kids name. For me it feels kinda personal! So again I’m sorry you’re going through this and I hope it passes quickly!