I had a dream Sunday night that I was in the hospital, in labor, expecting a baby boy, and that I just realized we hadn’t chosen a name. AHA HA HA HA HA!! AS IF! The pregnancy test stick is not even COOL before I’m making name lists! But anyway, that was the dream.
So I was thinking over possibilities. Would we use the name Oliver now, since our cat Oliver has died and the cat was the only thing stopping us from using the name last time? Would we use Frederick? But that would mean repeating an initial, and although I’m WILLING to do that for a name I MUST HAVE, I’d PREFER not to. Plus, my parents dislike the name Frederick.
So then, in the dream hospital, I thought of putting Frederick in the middle-name slot to eliminate the problems with it, and I came up with Oliver Frederick, and I like it enough that it’s making me feel a little woeful that I WON’T have another boy to name, and so I am hoping to persuade one of YOU to use it.
Oliver is one of those names that I really like for other people’s children. I love the name Frederick (little Freddy!) but my husband isn’t into it. So I must regretfully announce that I will not be the one to use your lovely name.
I agree with the above poster. It’s a nice enough name, but I wouldn’t use it. It’s one of those nerdy-chic names.
Swistle, I’m wondering what your image is of Oliver that draws you to the name. Oliver is a name I have a sort of like/not-so-much opinion of. My image of Oliver is the cute little English boy (played by Mark Lester) in the movie by that name based on Dickens’ novel. I like the name when I picture him.
But Oliver, for me, has no good nickname for an adult. In the US, 3-syllable boys’ names usually end up being shortened along the way to adulthood (whether the parents intended that or not), and where can you go with Oliver except to Olly/Ollie? Maybe cute for a little tyke, but for an adult?
My other problem with Oliver is that I see/hear O-Liver and just don’t find the “liver” part of the name very appealing.
And yet, when I hear a little boy being called Oliver, I like the name. I even suggested the name to one of my sons when they were looking for a name for their third son, the older two having names ending in -er. But Oliver didn’t appeal to my son who wanted a “stronger’ sounding name.
I love the rhythm and feel of Oliver Frederick together. Can’t use Oliver myself ever as my schauzer is named that (and goes by Ollie) and I love him dearly. And of course, by extension, I think of my dog when I hear the name, but I met a little boy at the pool named Oliver who was so cute and spunky, I can definitely see it on a child. I also knew a 25 year old Englishman who went by Olly, and it made for a fun drinking nickname, though he was Oliver elsewhere.
Patricia- For me, Oliver goes in the image category with names like Simon: British and smart without being nerdy. My guess is that an adult Oliver would get his name naturally shortened to Ol—not in a “Dear Ol” formal kind of way, but just “Hey, Ol! You going out after work?” Or else they’d get a non-name-based nickname, or a name based on their last name—boys do seem to call each other by surnames more than girls do.
I like both names, but I think I would be more likely to switch the combo to Frederick Oliver, only because I see Frederick as being a little more cutting edge than Oliver. Although I’m not keen on Fred. While Frederick seems cutting edge, Fred seems dull. Maybe I would use Oliver Frederick. I am expecting a boy in March, but I think we have pretty much chosen our name based on family names. We’ll see.
LMAO, it’s seriously time to get that kitten….
Ooh, Oliver Frederick is handsome! Oliver is a favorite of mine (as is Simon), but I can never get dh on board because he is from *actual* England where he went to school with dozens of Olivers and Simons. And Grahams. And Adrians. We even had an Oli in our wedding party. Sigh…
I had a baby name dream a few weeks ago that was similarly ridiculous: I gave birth to boy/ girl twins, and while I was unconscious from the birth, hubby named them without me and with apparently no prior discussion! Charlie and Nina. Not bad, I thought, though in my dream I insisted that we put Christina on her birth certificate, both for family significance and for a subtle matching initial effect ;)
Ha. My last few pregnancy naming dream left me with children called Marlowe and Donalda. An interesting combo, no?