See the results of this poll: Which one (or two) of these names should we cut from our possibility list? Why?
Respondents: 113 (This poll is closed)
- Jasper : 19 (14%)
- Conrad : 47 (34%)
- Roland: 74 (53%)
Shoot, I read that wrong. Keep [name]Roland[/name], lose [name]Jasper[/name]. Neutral on [name]Conrad[/name].
I like [name]Conrad[/name] and [name]Roland[/name] best. Not very keen on [name]Jasper[/name].
I voted to cut [name]Roland[/name] but honestly I think these are the best three names on your list by far!
[name]Jasper[/name] is by far the best! I’d cut [name]Roland[/name]. [name]Conrad[/name] is okay.
[name]Conrad[/name] seems like a mean person to me, I cannot say why. I just dislike this name. [name]Roland[/name] is okay, but definitely not my favorite. [name]Jasper[/name] is much cuter than both of these other names, so please keep this name over the other two.
I voted to cut [name]Roland[/name]. As much as I love the heroic literary [name]Roland[/name], I think the name is far too similar to Rayhan.
I like [name]Conrad[/name]'s meter when paired with Rayhan. And [name]Jasper[/name] seems like it fits hand-in-glove with the Chinese naming tradition of nature-related names, with a great historical/literary/mythological namesake ([name]Jasper[/name] likely comes fro [name]Caspar[/name]/[name]Gaspard[/name], one of the three [name]Magi[/name] in the [name]Christmas[/name] story).
Thanks for the replies everyone!
@[name]Blade[/name], I just wanna say, I consistently really really appreciate your insights on this baby naming reflection process. It seems like almost every reply you’ve made, in various posts, has caused me to think about something that I hadn’t before considered in quite that way. It’s been truly helpful. You have an ability to find subtle connections of meaning that I often overlook. In this case, I had never even considered how aligned choosing a nature related name is to the Chinese culture baby naming process (not for every name, but very commonly nonetheless). With the help of this connection (combined with my general appreciation for the name and it’s history, etc) I now feel confident [name]Jasper[/name] will be remaining in the top 4 or 5.
I’m glad [name]Amias[/name] is back! It’s still my favorite on your list.
I voted to cut [name]Jasper[/name], because I just don’t like it. Probably for no good reason-It just sets my teeth on edge. Now that I’ve thought about some more though, I would cut [name]Roland[/name] too. It’s a little too matchy with Rayhan. [name]Conrad[/name] is such a great, strong name.
Thank you javad, that is very kind. Like many members here I really love names-- especially the history, sociology and anthropology behind them. Your family is so interesting it merits a lot of thought.
I would lose [name]Conrad[/name]. I’m in love with [name]Jasper[/name], and really like [name]Roland[/name].
[name]Love[/name] love love both [name]Emrys[/name] and [name]Amias[/name]!
[name]Conrad[/name] - I really dislike this name so much. I don’t have a distinct reason, I just don’t like the sound of it at all.
I’m having a hard time with this question. [name]Roland[/name] is my personal favorite of the three, and, since it’s [name]German[/name], it honors part of your heritage. It’s also significantly less popular than [name]Jasper[/name] in the U.S., so to my “trend-sense” it’s a better match with Rayhan. But since he’ll be born in [name]China[/name] and may or may not end up living in [name]America[/name], the popularity factor probably isn’t too relevant. [name]Roland[/name] looks and sounds matchy enough with Rayhan that I’d probably choose [name]Roland[/name] to scratch from the list.
[name]Jasper[/name], with its Persian origins, and [name]Conrad[/name], with its [name]German[/name] ones, also honor your values and heritage, and both–especially [name]Conrad[/name]–look and sound good with Rayhan. Personally I prefer [name]Jasper[/name], but [name]Conrad[/name]'s sound, look and lower popularity are all better with Rayhan.
Best wishes!
@tfzol- No disrespect received. I recognize that it is a bit of an oversimplification to say that Chinese names are inspired by nature themes, there does seem to be more frequent direct or indirect connection to nature themes in Chinese names, at least more frequent than in western names. At least that’s my impression, I could certainly be wrong. Characters symbolizing a forest or a mountain seem to be pretty common, my first son’s Chinese name (瑞晗) has a character that symbolizes the dawn. Or if not directly, it also seems like a lot of names have radicals in the character that are from sun, moon, mountain or others. Plus, as my wife is from the Naxi ethnic minority (we live in Lijiang), the traditional cultural/belief system of the Naxi people is very focused on nature/environment (in quite similar ways to how many traditional Native American culture/belief systems do).
And regarding your suggestions of [name]Kian[/name] and [name]Cyrus[/name], it’s funny you mention [name]Kian[/name], because [name]Kian[/name] was actually our number one choice for quite some time before we decide it sounded too similar to our first son’s name (Rayhan), because indeed we were going to use the Persian pronunciation (which has the same ‘ahn’ ending sound as Rayhan). Actually I am not Persian myself, just happen to have a Persian name (and as a member of the [name]Baha[/name]'i [name]Faith[/name], which was born in [name]Persia[/name] 170 years ago, I do have a meaningful connection to Persian names) and was inspired by that to name our first son a Persian name (especially since the pronunciation was also exactly the same as a great Chinese name that we loved, which really pushed Rayhan far into the lead as potential names for our first child), but we would prefer to name our second child from another culture, since we like the idea of having a ‘world’ family naming dynamic to accompany our ‘world citizen’ type of mindset (well, I say this, but [name]Jasper[/name] is actually a name with Persian roots itself, but we really like that name a lot anyways)
@aurora- It is a difficult question to answer, isn’t it? I really didn’t want to cut any of them. Decided to cut [name]Roland[/name] for basically the reason you mentioned, perhaps a bit too matchy with Rayhan. And we don’t wanna great an ‘R’ theme in case we end up having a third child. We decided to go ahead and cut out [name]Conrad[/name] as well, cuz while I really like the name and feel it goes with Rayhan really well, but I just don’t like it quite as deeply as [name]Jasper[/name] (or [name]Emrys[/name], [name]Amias[/name] or [name]Evander[/name]). And even though [name]Jasper[/name] certainly is more popular than our other options, I think that outside the Nameberry world it’s not a name that trending up overly quickly (and being that it’s like the #280 most used name these days, I don’t think it’s too common for us to cut off the possibility list). And I think it actually pairs up and sounds really good next to Rayhan as well. So we’ve finally got a top 4! I’m really happy with all 4 of them, and feel confident that whatever name (of these four) we end up going with will be one we’ll love forever.
I would cut [name]Jasper[/name]. It is ok, but has an almost trendy feel.
I don’t like [name]Roland[/name].
[name]Jasper[/name] is nice.
I’m not super fond of [name]Conrad[/name], but I like the nn [name]Rad[/name] or [name]Raddy[/name]
Congratulations javad! It’s a wonderful list. [name]How[/name] are you & your wife ranking them right now? And are her parents selecting the Chinese name, or you?
I really like [name]Jasper[/name]. It has a nice meaning and history. [name]Conrad[/name] is okay. It seems really popular where I live. Not a fan of [name]Roland[/name].
I say toss [name]Roland[/name]. 
[name]Conrad[/name]'s probably my favorite of your options (and the one I’d be most likely to use), but I don’t really like it for a FN, which leaves [name]Jasper[/name] as my favorite of these options, with [name]Conrad[/name] as a close second. [name]Emrys[/name] and [name]Amias[/name] are my favorites out of all your options, though.
Good luck!