Rough as guts.....

What do you think? Our sons name is [name]Rufus[/name], but he gets called Ruff for short. We are expecting another baby later this year and both my partner and I like the name [name]Fergus[/name].

Two things - Are the two names too similar?

And, what do you think of the nick names together? [name]Fergus[/name] would be shortened to [name]Gus[/name] which means we would have Ruff and [name]Gus[/name]. I can’t help thinking rough as guts.

[name]Just[/name] realised that might not mean much to non Australians as its a bit of Aussie slang.

Umm “G’day” yeah, it does sound a bit like rough as guts. If I heard it I might mishear it, sorry.

emiliaj

I don’t really hear “rough as guts”. I think they’re similar but really cute together. I’d go for it.
I am curious as to what “rough as guts” means in Australia. [name]Do[/name] tell!

Best wishes!

Here’s the thing: your sons won’t always be referred to together. As they get older, Ruff may choose to go by [name]Rufus[/name] and [name]Gus[/name] may choose to go by [name]Fergus[/name]. Or maybe one keeps his nickname and the other doesn’t. My point is that they’re just nicknames. Discarding [name]Fergus[/name] because of how his nickname sounds with his brother’s is silly to me. If you love it, use it!

Hello, I’m Aussie and unfortunately, I noticed rough as guts straight away! Sounds really…well…rough!

Aussie “rough as guts” means something is very primal/crude/no frills/raw.

I am an Aussie and I can definitely see the down side of this combo. Did you get [name]Rufus[/name] from [name]Rufus[/name] [name]Dawes[/name] from the novel “For the Term of His Natural Life”? I loved, loved this classic Aussie novel by [name]Marcus[/name] [name]Clarke[/name].

Perhaps you would like to use the names of someone else in the novel? [name]Rex[/name], [name]North[/name], [name]Arthur[/name].

I am sure that the boys would get the nn’s of [name]Gus[/name] and Ruff I think [name]Fergus[/name] has to go but I love [name]Barnaby[/name] he is perfect with [name]Rufus[/name].

rollo

I think I would look at [name]Fenris[/name] or [name]Magnus[/name] or something instead, sorry. But I married a boy from Western [name]Sydney[/name] (I’m not Australian really I just emigrated here a couple years ago) and I ran your OP past him and he laughed uproariously about rough as guts, sorry.

Yes, I do use my husband as the lowest common denominator, but he’s lovely, I swear! :wink:

I think [name]Rufus[/name] and [name]Fergus[/name] are too similar in their endings for siblings. I love both names though!

I don’t think that [name]Rufus[/name] and [name]Fergus[/name] are too similar for siblings. But if you look at my sig, you’ll see that we have quite a few rhyming names – not on purpose, and I didn’t even realize it until we were well in and someone else pointed it out. My sister & I have rhyming names ([name]Shannon[/name] & [name]Maren[/name]) and it never seemed cutesy or silly, afaik.

I agree with the pp who said that your boys won’t always be together; they’ll spend much more of their lives apart than together. And I know that, when talking to/calling my kids, I generally go oldest to youngest, you could get in the habit of calling them “[name]Gus[/name] and Ruff;” that might not sound so much like the saying.

I think [name]Rufus[/name] and [name]Fergus[/name] sound a bit too similar but its still quite a pleasing match. I don’t see the problem with ruf and gus tho, call them gus and ruff, in reverse! Would prefer alternatives that are more distinct such as

[name]Rufus[/name] and [name]Felix[/name] (Flix or Lix)
[name]Rufus[/name] and [name]Jasper[/name] ([name]Jas[/name] or [name]Jaz[/name])

[name]Ginny[/name]