I’ve been thinking of the name Townes recently as my husband is a fan of late artist Townes van Zandt. TvZ is probably not the greatest namesake but I like that Townes is a nice one-syllable masculine name.
What do you think? It seems familiar and yet I’ve never heard of anyone else with that name.
I’m not familiar with Townes, so I had to look him up on Wikipedia to see why he wasn’t a good role model. I don’t know how strong an association it is among country fans. If his problems were so bad that they overshadowed his work, then I might hesitate. Otherwise, I don’t think it would be an issue. The name itself interesting, and uncommon. It’s not quite my style, but I can see the appeal.
I am so excited to see this post! My husband and I came SO close to naming our son Townes, we absolutely love the name. I think it’s unique, spunky and just an all around great name. We eventually shied away from using it because we felt like it is just so associated with Townes van Zandt and it felt that because of that, it would always feel like we named our son after him. We’re huge fans and I didn’t feel like the problems in his life overshadowed the amazing music he created, so we were fine with there being a name connection, I just couldn’t get over how connected they would be with people always assuming we had named him after TvZ.
Anyway, I so hope you use this name - it truly is a great, great name!
I don’t like it. It sounds stupid as a name.
I like it, it’s growing on me. I have never heard of that artist so the name has no associations with me at all.
I’m a big fan of Townes [name]Van[/name] Zandt and I love the sound of the name Townes. I’m really surprised that it isn’t more widely used! As you may know, [name]Steve[/name] [name]Earle[/name] has a son named [name]Justin[/name] Townes [name]Earle[/name], who is a very talented songwriter himself. It definitely works as a middle name, too. On another note, I recently met a little boy named [name]Van[/name] – another cool and masculine one-syllable name that could be a more subtle tribute to [name]Van[/name] Zandt.
I don’t like the name, then again I hate a lot of word names… a Town is a a small city, not something I would name a kid…
I have never heard of Townes van Zandt. Regardless, I think Townes is a really cool name.
The singer [name]Jewel[/name] named her baby boy [name]Kase[/name] Townes. I think it is cute as a middle name.
I like it. I think Townsend nn Townes would be cool, too. Then again, I’m probably the biggest fan of surnamey boys’ names ever… 
I can’t.
I hear Townes, and I think Downs as in Downs Syndrome, and that’s highly likely to become a huge teasing tool when he’s older.
[name]Love[/name] Townes van Zandt and love the name. I hope you go for it.
I happen to love Townes van Zandt, but unfortunately, I don’t think he’s widely-known enough to make this work. It’s not like calling your son [name]Jagger[/name]. I think more people will understand it as the plural of a word name (town + s) and then it will just sound silly, like calling your kid Cities.
I kinda like it. It isn’t something that I would personally use, though. I have not heard of Townes [name]Van[/name] Zandt, but I think that works in your favor. I would much rather name a child after someone/thing that wasn’t glaringly obvious.
I personally wouldn’t use it unless it were a family surname, but if you love it use it.
There’s a Townes at my son’s school–adorable name and it suits him. We live in [name_u]Texas[/name_u], so knowing of TVZ is probably more common than other areas. Go for it!
(whoops–didn’t realize this post was so old, ha!)