Thoughts on our shortlist

Boy Names
22

Frederick and [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] are great!

23

Thanks for the great feedback and nice words everyone. It is seeming that [name_m]Joshua[/name_m] and [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] are emerging as our favorites (at least this week!)

We are trying them out and weighing the pros and cons of each. The main issues we are a bit concerned about:

[name_m]Joshua[/name_m]: We’re worried about this one being/becoming dated. Though it’s a Biblical name that has been in use in the [name_u]West[/name_u], albeit sparingly, since the Protestant Reformation, it’s hard to ignore the similarities of its popularity graph compared to other names dated to their times ([name_m]Joshua[/name_m] v. [name_f]Karen[/name_f]: Popularity for the name Joshua - Behind the Name)

We’re worried we’d be catching the very end of the [name_m]Joshua[/name_m] wave, and that he’ll spend most of his life with a dated name. We also prefer the full name to [name_m]Josh[/name_m], and are intimidated of the, “actually, it’s [name_m]Josh[/name_m]ua” slog.

[name_m]Lewis[/name_m]: The main concern is that there are two spellings of this name ([name_m]Luis[/name_m], [name_m]Louis[/name_m]) that are currently more popular ([name_m]Luis[/name_m] #120, [name_m]Louis[/name_m] #248, [name_m]Lewis[/name_m] #556), which will make for a lifetime of “how do you spell that?” Our last name is also a less common spelling variant of a common surname, so we’re worried about a double whammy!

We’d love to hear anyone’s thoughts about these issues, if you have them!

24

I have a [name_m]Joshua[/name_m]. It’s an amiable, jaunty name that is quite religious in its roots but very mainstream and accepted by all. I don’t think it can really be dated in the same way that a modern name can lose its steam, since it goes back thousands of years.

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25

I don’ think any of these names are “trendy”. They’ve kind of always been around which makes their recent popularities not as polarizing as newer names.

My ranking is:

Jacob
[name_m]Joshua[/name_m]
[name_m]Lewis[/name_m]
[name_m]Hugh[/name_m]
[name_m]Frederick[/name_m]

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