Kailee writes:
My husband and I are expecting our first child, a boy, June 19th. We’re very excited, but I’ve been reluctant to nail down THE name. I keep thinking that we’d like to actually see his face before settling on a name. Plus, the real reason, I’m still not sure! In fact, I’m a little jealous of some of my friends who have their baby’s name already chosen. We’ve decided not to tell anyone our names, but now that we’re drawing closer to the due date, I sure would like an outsider’s opinion!
Our last name starts with an M and rhymes with “acquire.” We will use Patrick as a middle name to honor both my husband and his late father. We’d like to steer clear of any recent top ten names. Our short list is:
· Leo – Leo is also a family name, but I loved it before I knew that it was also the name of my husband’s late maternal grandfather. Is it overkill to give a baby two namesakes?
· Thomas – This is probably my husband’s favorite. We both love the nickname Tom too. A long distance cousin has Thomas as one of his middle names, though. So, is using Thomas as our baby’s first name a no-no?
· Eli – An early frontrunner for sure. But is it too much of a tongue twister with our last name?
· Harrison – A late addition to the short list, but we both love the nickname Harry.
A few other favorite names that have been vetoed by either myself or my husband are: George, Max, Greyson, Joshua, Charles, William, Finn
So, what are your thoughts? Any other suggestions? Thank you so much for your help!
I think Leo Patrick M____ is a great name. I don’t think it’s overkill at all to use two family names. Since this is your first baby, it’s a good moment to think about future babies and what you might name them. Will using two family names for this baby make you feel like you have to do the same for future babies? If you use two family names now, do you have plenty of other good ones or will you wish you hadn’t used two up on one child? And it’s even more confusing than that, because you might not have another boy, and then would you regret not using both names?
If the sound of Eli seems not-quite, I wonder if you’d like Elias better? Elias Patrick M______.
I also love Thomas and Harrison! (A long-distance cousin having the name Thomas as one of his middle names is irrelevant, I’d say.)
I wonder if the reason it’s hard to choose one is that you have so many good solid choices. It would be easier if you could eliminate one or two options before going to the hospital—but if not, I think going to the hospital with the list you have will result in a good name no matter what.
One way to help narrow things down is to think (for the second time in a single post) about future babies. With each name possibility, consider if it would eliminate a name you’d want to use for another child: if you used Eli, for example, maybe it would eliminate Ian and Ellie, or maybe you wouldn’t want to use any more biblical names; if you used Leo, it would eliminate Cleo and Leah—and maybe Eli and Leo are names you’d want to use one but not both, so you’d need to choose which name you liked better, that sort of thing. Think also about girl names you like: do any of your boy names clash or go particularly well with them?
Name update! Kailee writes:
Firstly, I wanted to thank you and your readers on our baby name dilemma! We were able to narrow our choices down to Leo (and adding a second middle name that also honored my family and avoided the Leo Patrick/Cleopatra sound) and Thomas after reading the post and comments. Our little boy came two and a half weeks early and we were very glad to have just two names to choose between after the labor! In the end, I was definitely leaning toward Thomas because I wasn’t sure I wanted to use THREE family names for one little boy! But, I insisted we wait to see our baby’s sweet face before finalizing.
When we finally saw him my husband’s eyes filled with tears when I said I think he’s a Thomas because we both just KNEW it was the right name. We are absolutely in love with our little guy and his name. Thanks again!
Please feel free to share the attached photo with your readers.
I love all the names you have on your list! My favorate would have to be Harrison Patrick! Harry is the cutest nn!
When i see the name Eli for some reason it reminds me of Ari (pronounced ah-ree) a friend recently named her child this and i think its a lovely name!!
All the names on your list are great so either way your little man will end up with a lovely name all the best x
You have great names!
I love both Leo and Eli for you, and don’t think Eli is too much of a tongue twister with your last name. I actually think Elias is harder to say with M-Acquire! Maybe Elijah or Elian is easier, and then you get the nn Eli (but I think Eli is fine on it’s own)?
Using Leo is great, and I love family names- the only question(s) that I would bring up in addition to Swistle’s is this: using two names from your husband’s side of the family might hurt feelings on your side. Is that okay? Is there a family name on your side that you could use instead? If you have future children, would you feel like you HAD to use names from your side now to balance it out, or risk offending grandparents, etc?
Harrison’s a favourite of mine, as is Henry (another Harry-bearing name, obv). Henry M-Acquire flows more smoothly, in my opinion, but I like Harrison alot. You also get the nns Hank and Huck, which is a bonus if you (or your son) start to dislike Harry. Thomas is lovely, too, and the middle name of a long distance cousin (or even a closer family member) isn’t important. Tom/Tommy is a pretty inevitable nn for Thomas, though- is that a nn you like (I’ve heard Tam and Tas as alternative nns)?
Honestly, though, I don’t think you could go wrong with any of your names!
I think there’s a lot of good advice here. I wouldn’t say for sure that Thomas is destined for a nickname since I have a 7 yr old Thomas and he’s almost always called by his full name. One thing to consider about nn is whether you can live with the nickname, if not love it. I don’t love Tom or Tommy, but I can live with it if that’s the outcome later down the road.
You’ve got some great names. If there are any you can eliminate ahead of time, so much the better, but like Swistle said, going to the hospital with this list is going to result in a winner in any event.
i LOVE LOVE LOVE the name harry!!! i’ve begged my husband to let me use it for another boy. our little boy is Hank…LOVE it too. it’s been my fave for MANY years and i was so excited to have a little boy to use it on :-)
good luck!
I like Thomas from your list best, and I wouldn’t worry about a long-distance cousin. Harrison is nice, too. Leo and Eli sound a little abrupt to me. Maybe Leonard, Elias, Elijah or Elliot?
I love Thomas for you (I wouldn’t worry about the cousin), as well as Leo (or Leon, or Leonard?).
I also like Harrsion very much, so I’m not much help, am I?
I would also suggest picking your favorite two and waiting to see what he looks like…
Good luck!
At the risk of coming off a bit pushy, OH MY GOSH PLEASE NAME YOUR BABY LEO PATRICK M_____!
What a handsome name!
Leo, Elias, and Harrison are all great.
When I said Leo Patrick out loud though I immediately thought “Cleopatra”… Not sure if anyone else thought that or not!
I do like it though aside from that!
I’m not a fan of Thomas, but only because of the people I know with that name. To me the cousin having that as a middle name shouldn’t be a factor though!
I adore the name Leo Patrick M___. It is dashing, and all three sound so good together I could see him using them all – in the event he is a movie star (i.e. Neil Patrick Harris) or a rock star or something like that. Also, I think the multiple namesakes thing is great. The more stories behind the name, the better!
I’m not as crazy about Thomas and Eli, though I agree with Swistle, they are good, solid choices. Harrison Patrick M____ is also fabulous.
I also like the name Miles. Miles Patrick M____. And Simon. Simon Patrick M____. But really, it sounds to me like you lean towards Leo. I think you should go with that. It will make you so happy!
Um, the name ‘Harry M-Aquire’ sounds a LOT like a Tom Cruise movie from the nineties… “Show me the money!” is a tagline from it. You know what I mean here? If that doesn’t bother you, great!
If it does, my vote goes to Leo. SUCH a great name for a big or little guy!
All the best to you as you welcome your son!
I think if you find a name you LOVE and it just happens to also be a family name that is a real winner! Leo Patrick M_Aquire is great.
My recommendation would be to come up with some good namesakes on your side of the family for the next bubba, though. As someone else commented, if you use two namesakes from hubby’s side now the pressure will be on from your side next time. My first son has my late FIL’s name as a middle name so now I’m kind of stuck with using my Dad’s name as a middle name this time. Reginald would NOT be my first choice ordinarily!
Adey- Oh, man, good point. I hadn’t noticed it, but now that you’ve pointed it out I hear it every time.
The Mrs.- Very good point. I hadn’t noticed how much Harry sounds like Jerry.
My opinion is that you don’t need our help! You are doing just fine on your own. :-) I love all of these names, and if my baby turned out to be a boy, it’s very possible he would have been Leo. I also love Elias, but as my name is Alice, it was too close. Thomas is my favorite of what I classify as the standard boys’ names, and Tommy is really cute too for a nickname. I do think Tom M-Acquire is probably one of many though, so in the interest of being slightly different, I’d choose one of the others (even though I love it). Harry M-Acquire is defintely too close to Jerry, even though I also like that name. So I would vote Leo or Elias. You can’t go wrong!
Love Leo! Leo Patrick= fantastic!
I like Tom and Harrison too! I am not a fan of Eli, but I like the man’s man names for boys.