Use your top two names or "save" one for later?

When naming a child, do you use your two favorite names or do you “save” favorites for later first names?

Let me use an example. Let’s say that your top two favorite boy names are [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]Charles[/name_m]. You love them both to pieces, and your SO agrees that they are the best two names on the planet. In a perfect world, you and your SO would have two little boys named [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]Charles[/name_m]. Of course, life doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have another boy down the road, and you can’t imagine not using [name_m]Charles[/name_m] when given the opportunity. So now you’re faced with a dilemma. [name_f]Do[/name_f] you name your first son [name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Charles[/name_m], so that you can use your two favorite names, or do you “save” [name_m]Charles[/name_m] for a hypothetical second baby’s first name?

Hm that would be a tough dilemma!! I intend on using family names for a middle regardless so it shouldn’t be an issue for me, but I would say save it. In the middle spot it will be all but ignored, and if you love it that much, I’d want it as a first name!

As a random aside - my great grandfather was [name_m]Charles[/name_m] [name_m]William[/name_m] :slight_smile:

I think it depends. [name_f]Do[/name_f] they sound better to you as a sibset or a combo? [name_f]Do[/name_f] they both have significance to you and how badly would you regret never getting to use one of them?

When we named our daughter, we had a very limited list and the combo we chose effectively ruled out using any of the other names (because they would be too similar/versions of her first or middle name). We’re totally happy with that. We’ve fallen in love with something completely different/never before considered by us for daughter #2 if we have one. But, we also never felt like [name_f]Maura[/name_f]/[name_f]Molly[/name_f] and [name_f]Lucy[/name_f]/[name_f]Lucille[/name_f] were the only good names in the whole wide world, they were just the only names we imagined for this daughter.

I’d personally use my top two names as first and middle bearing they flow well together.

People don’t often hear or use a child’s middle name, so I personally would save the second name. on the other hand, I know a set of brothers which all have as their first name as the middle of the previous son, so if you went with that pattern, you could have (for example, just grabbed some combos from your sig):

[name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Charles[/name_m]
[name_m]Charles[/name_m] [name_m]Henry[/name_m]
[name_m]Henry[/name_m] [name_m]Isaac[/name_m]

If it sounds good as a combo, I’ll use both at the same time. If it doesn’t, save it for the next kid.

For me, if I were only doing one middle name, I would use both. I would have a [name_m]Damien[/name_m] [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] if I thought I might never have another kid let alone another boy.

But I want to really choose option 3. If it were me and I loved [name_m]Damien[/name_m] and [name_m]Alexander[/name_m] and thought they were the best names ever (those are my top boy names), [name_m]Damien[/name_m] would for sure be my first born son and the next child, if it were a girl, would be [name_f]Alexandria[/name_f]. If [name_u]Cody[/name_u] insisted on [name_m]Alexander[/name_m], we’d have a [name_f]Damiana[/name_f]. Fixes that problem :stuck_out_tongue:
If it were the other way around and I loved [name_f]Sylvana[/name_f] and [name_f]Amelia[/name_f], I would have and [name_f]Amelia[/name_f] and a [name_m]Sylvan[/name_m]/[name_m]Sylvester[/name_m].
And for [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]Charles[/name_m], it could be [name_f]Willa[/name_f] and [name_m]Charles[/name_m] or [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_f]Charlotte[/name_f].

I’ve been thinking about this lately because I have two very favourite boys’ names and, as yet, no sons. I think I am going to use them both together should I have a son, because they’d frankly sound a little weird as a sibset (one is very classic but a bit fusty, the other is quite newish and trendy, and I feel like they complement each other well because each sort of tempers the effect of the other). So I agree it’s all about the names themselves and how they combine.

It depends on whether you love brothers named [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]Charles[/name_m] or the names [name_m]William[/name_m] and [name_m]Charles[/name_m]. You never know how many sons you will have, so if you couldn’t live without a little [name_m]Charles[/name_m], use [name_m]William[/name_m] [name_m]Charles[/name_m]. It’s a tough dilemma for sure.

[name_f]My[/name_f] [name_f]MIL[/name_f] named her second son [name_m]Anthony[/name_m] [name_u]Michael[/name_u] because she loved both and didn’t want to possibly not use [name_u]Michael[/name_u] if she didn’t have another boy. Well two years later she had another boy and named him [name_u]Michael[/name_u] [name_m]Thomas[/name_m].

If I wasn’t using either name spot to honor, I’d definitely use my two favorite names in one combo. There are no guarantees you’ll have another child of that gender again, or that you’ll have another child at all. Knowing me, there also isn’t a guarantee I’ll love the other name as much in the future as I do now! lol