Name Our Baby Boy
January 8, 2004 6:36 PM   Subscribe

Not to be derivative or anything, but my wife and I are in a similar situation as limitedpie, except that we're having a boy and don't agree on names. Any suggestions?
posted by pizzasub to Grab Bag (44 answers total)
 
As a tifosi, I just have to say Enzo
posted by riffola at 6:37 PM on January 8, 2004


Homer.
posted by MegoSteve at 6:41 PM on January 8, 2004


Craig?
Rob?
Greg?
Peter?
Bobby?
Sam?
Oliver?
(i'm spent--that's all the brady men plus one)
posted by amberglow at 6:43 PM on January 8, 2004


actually, I really like the old man names that are back: Sam, Oscar, Max...
posted by amberglow at 6:44 PM on January 8, 2004


Umm...what are you trying to go for? Masculine? Unique? Exotic? Memorable? Aesthetic? Obscure?
posted by vacapinta at 6:51 PM on January 8, 2004


Response by poster: Masculine, with a touch of originality. Our last name is Lilly, so we need a strong name to go with it.
posted by pizzasub at 6:54 PM on January 8, 2004


Sean
Ian
James
posted by stoneegg21 at 7:03 PM on January 8, 2004


bran
rickon
mathias
efraim
rufus
montgomery
alexander
posted by vacapinta at 7:06 PM on January 8, 2004


Matt
posted by bshort at 7:09 PM on January 8, 2004


Che
Lockhart
Aleister
posted by bobo123 at 7:12 PM on January 8, 2004


Since (obviously!) we just found out we are having a girl, I will offer you up our boys list, which (we hope) we still might get to use in the future! Our first choice (and the shoe-in-- we were much more settled on boys names than girls) was Cassius, pronounced "Cash-us". Our 2nd choice was an Inuit name (the name of the protagonist in the wonderful film "Map of the Human Heart," which my husband and I saw on our first date): Avik (pronounced "aa, as in 'apple" and vik as in Victor.) Our 3rd choice was Hayden, sort of conventional (and becoming more popular) but we liked it. And if, in theory, the boy were to pop out and have a simple raw and strong sensibility about him, we were toying with Axel... only and sadly reduced by the (waning, but alas nevertheless known) popularity of a certain mega-rock-star of a decade ago.... All the best and congrats to you pizzasub!
posted by limitedpie at 7:13 PM on January 8, 2004


Response by poster: limitedpie, just FYI, but our daughter's name is Grace, so I'm sort of partial to that :)

Best of luck to you too. To sleepless nights!
posted by pizzasub at 7:15 PM on January 8, 2004


I ever have a boy he'll be Howlin' as first name and maybe Buddha as second. I also like Thelonious and Theopolis as first names.

Congrats.
posted by dobbs at 7:18 PM on January 8, 2004


quonsar, quonsar, QUONSAR!!!!!!!! or you could just settle with Moonpie.
posted by poopy at 7:20 PM on January 8, 2004


Xavier
Harrison
Quinn
Alexander
Roland
Wolfgang
Maximillian

... seriously. I love all of those names.
posted by MsVader at 7:28 PM on January 8, 2004


Tiger!
posted by TimeFactor at 7:29 PM on January 8, 2004


an -er name sounds good with Lilly--Alexander, Oliver, Roger....
posted by amberglow at 7:37 PM on January 8, 2004


Nikolai
Carraig
Cahir
Brendan
Ciaran
Keegan (ah, but I am partial to that one!)
posted by oflinkey at 7:39 PM on January 8, 2004


oflinkey's suggestions are great if you want the kid to blow up a London bus or starve himself to death, but I think that more traditional names for boys are best. Think "Robert," "Edward," or "George."
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:46 PM on January 8, 2004


I second MsVader's Harrison, and will throw in Jackson.
posted by thatothrgirl at 7:47 PM on January 8, 2004


Hector
Mason
Emerson
posted by oissubke at 8:04 PM on January 8, 2004


Sebastian
posted by ferociouskitty at 8:41 PM on January 8, 2004


If I had a son, I'd name him Gomez
posted by Fupped Duck at 8:45 PM on January 8, 2004


Mayor Curley- Stereotypical, ignorant, racist. I expected more out of someone like you. And all of those names are traditional. Just not in your tradition.
posted by oflinkey at 9:11 PM on January 8, 2004


"Our last name is Lilly, so we need a strong name to go with it."

Billy.

Seriously.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 9:38 PM on January 8, 2004


oflinkey-- I'm so, so sorry! I meant it as a joke, but obviously it shouldn't be taken as such because those are ugly sentiments.

In my head, I show enough respect for the Irish culture that built my favorite city that no one would take me as malicious. But I forget that people don't "know" me here. Again, I'm sorry!

(James Michael Curley is a hero of mine! I want to go hide somewhere!)
posted by Mayor Curley at 9:39 PM on January 8, 2004


A friend of mine had a son a couple of years back, and they wound up naming him Alexander, middle name Luthor. They just call him "Lex". They're about to have another kid - we're hoping it's a girl, and we're hoping that they name her Lois.
posted by majcher at 10:07 PM on January 8, 2004


Or, you could always just go with a classic, and name him "Sue".
posted by majcher at 10:08 PM on January 8, 2004


A line of thought in names is that the first and last names should have a different amount of syllables. With that in mind and with the last name of Lilly, go with a one or three (or more!) syllable first name. And, unless you want the kid to be beat up at school, avoid rhyming names. Billy Lilly? Not good (sorry, mr_crash_davis).
posted by deborah at 10:11 PM on January 8, 2004


Jack
Victor
Ezra
(the other names I like are too soft for your last name: Eliot, Guthrie.)
My husband asked for boy names a couple of years ago on his blog. Here are the results. Congratulations--have fun!
posted by whatnot at 10:13 PM on January 8, 2004


My husband and I are having a boy, and we've settled on Nathaniel. We also considered:

Gabriel (we didn't like the nickname Gabe)
Malachi (it sounded like a televangelist to me)
Fox (which I like the sound of, but the X-Files association is too goofy)
Kirk
Maxwell
Oliver (these three we ended up just not being enthused about)
Jasper (sounded too much like a dog's name to us)
and Josiah (my great-grandfather's name, but we didn't like the sound of it with our last name).
posted by Shoeburyness at 10:23 PM on January 8, 2004


My lit-geek suggestion here. I'm also a big fan of Joseph (though at the moment it has rather heartbreaking connotations), Nicholas (my younger nephew -- named at my suggestion!), Thomas (my elder nephew), William/Liam, Seth, and -- everyone snorts when I say this, but I'm serious -- Ezekiel. His nickname would be Zeke! How cool is that?

And by the way -- congratulations, you crazy kids!
posted by scody at 11:00 PM on January 8, 2004


Oh, and I second Shoeburyness's suggestion of Josiah , too.
posted by scody at 11:02 PM on January 8, 2004


Mayor Curly- I am sorry I reacted so off the cuff. I just posted something in grumblebee's MeTa thread about this, too...
I am just sensitive about those names as they are , in order: not Irish but from a favorite book, a character from a story told to me as a young'un, a great name from my Irish dancing days, my brother, a beloved childhood friend, and my last name.
Sorry again. Threadjack over.

Pizzasub- Xavier, Hugh, Francis, Vincent, and my husband's favorite, Mohandas.
posted by oflinkey at 11:05 PM on January 8, 2004


scody- I love Zeke!
posted by oflinkey at 11:06 PM on January 8, 2004


"Ron Jeremy". Or possibly "Rod" - you don't get much more masculine that that... :-|
posted by bifter at 3:36 AM on January 9, 2004


Vladimir. I'm calling MY son Vladimir.
posted by armoured-ant at 4:12 AM on January 9, 2004


Valentine...Val is a wicked good nickname and Val Lilly kinda flows off the tongue.
posted by Dagobert at 4:35 AM on January 9, 2004


I'm naming my son Alaric, after the Visigoth king who sacked Rome in the 5th century. Or perhaps Charles Magnus (Charlemagne).
Names don't get more assertive than that. Also keep in mind the power of cool middle names. Why just be Peter, when you can be Peter Abelard?
William -> William Tecumseh
James -> James Tiberius

For the quiet bookish types:

Milo
Paul
Martin
Linus

and who could forget:

Alvin
Simon
Theodore
posted by leotrotsky at 7:38 AM on January 9, 2004


william or daniel. i love the informal use of these names: billy and danny. james for the middle name.
posted by t r a c y at 8:31 AM on January 9, 2004


My staunch top five, that refuse to change, despite some having a recent annoying surge in popularity:

Isaac
Oliver
Jonah
Connor
Lukas (this is the german spelling meaning "light")
posted by nelleish at 8:48 AM on January 9, 2004


Henry, and then call him Hank. Henry Oliver Lilly, Henry (wife's maiden name) Lilly, etc. Hank Lilly. I just like it.
posted by pomegranate at 9:02 AM on January 9, 2004


Sue.
posted by ook at 11:24 AM on January 9, 2004


Atticus has been my favorite forever, even before I read 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. Neal and Chase are also nice.
posted by bubukaba at 12:42 PM on January 9, 2004


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