Hi--My husband and I are due with our first child, a boy, on March 13, 2011 and we need help! My husband is Italian and I'm English. We disagree on almost all names and seem to be getting nowhere! For girls names we liked boys names that you can put a feminine twist on or classic family names-I feel like naming a girl might have been easier! Our last name is Rita and I feel like this eliminates most if not all 'R' names (We named our dog Riley bc it was my favorite girl's name, but I felt like Riley Rita would never be a good match for a girl). We also agree that the name have a nickname. However, most other things we disagree on...my husband tends to like more common names; Joseph (I do like Joey, but not Joseph), Matthew, Nate, Tyler (and what he likes for names is very limited and is concerned about names not sounding masculine enough and when he's older). He definitely has said he doesn't like names that he considers more trendy: Aidan, Mason, Caden...My suggestions that he's vetoed have been: Beckett, Boden, Giovanni (no nn?), Maximo, Maxwell, Milo (love this one!-husband vetoed bc might not be masculine enough as he gets older?). I also own a preschool so I feel like there's some names that just aren't a good fit because I've known several children with certain names...
We have a super small list of options that we agree on so far:
-Callen (too feminine? Callan?) nn Cal
-William (too common in our area? but this is also a family name) nn Will
(we do not have a middle name picked out yet either so are open to suggestions here too)
First names we love but cannot use: Brian, Andrew, Anthony, James, Daniel
As you can see, we don't have much to go on so far and are coming down to the wire. Hope you can help!!!
Thank you!
If Callen seems too potentially feminine, Callum might work. Callum Rita is nice. Or Calvin, or Callahan, or Caleb. Or I think my favorite would be Malcolm.
If you like Joey but not Joseph, I wonder if you'd like Josiah? Or I've liked the name Joel ever since a nice boy named Joel in 4th grade. Or Jonah might still have the slightest smack of whale, but Jonas works now that The Jonas Brothers have made it mainstream. Or I love the name George with the nickname Geordy---not quite Joey, I realize, but something of the same sound. Your choice of Giovanni also has the nickname Joe and perhaps Joey, though I'm not sure how I'd spell them: Gio doesn't have at all the same flavor as Joe.
If you like James, may I put in a good word for John? The name is so familiar, it's too easily dismissed. It feels over-common, and yet it's increasingly uncommon to run into actual little boys named John---especially since often if they ARE named John, it's a family name and they go by something else. This gives the name the unexpected freshness of a name like Mary: the mind glosses over it while perusing the baby name book, but on an actual child there is a feeling of pleasant surprise.
My favorite William alternative is Wilson---but then you lose the family connection.
Perhaps you could get your husband to reconsider Milo. I don't see any reason it would lose masculinity as the child grew. Would your husband like Miles better? Or Leo?
If you both love Daniel and your husband likes Nate, perhaps Nathaniel?
Or Isaac?
