Candice writes:
Help please!
I am due in about 10 weeks with our third boy. We have Cade Bryan, who is 5, and Colin David Franklin, who is 3. Colin’s middle names are his 2 grandpa’s names, so we are set on honoring family. I am Candice and my husband is Bryan, and our last name is Faith. So obviously ‘Christian’ is not an option. We are having a hard time naming this last child! We are mainly looking at B or C names, but not exclusively. We like names that are somewhat unusual. Being a teacher, my goal is to not have my children be in class with someone of their same name. (although Cade has gotten quite popular since we picked it.) Here is the list we are considering, but by no means are we only going to use one of these. We are open to any and all suggestions! The top 7 are marked, the others are in no particular order. If this baby were a girl, she would have been Brinley or Lucy.–Bryson
–Chase
–Owen
–Carson
–Max
–Cayson
–Cameron
Colter
Calum
Cyler
Camden
Casey
Coleman
Blake
Bryden
Brecken
Cole
Carlin
Kai
Brennan
Cruz
AndyAny thoughts are greatly appreciated! thank you!
The name Cade had a peak in 2001 at #201, but since then has been steadily getting less common:
(screenshot from SSA.gov)
The name Colin is significantly more common than Cade, but has also been much steadier in its popularity ranking, which makes its popularity less noticeable. (Combining it with the spelling Collin, the name would be #70 in 2010.)
(screenshot from SSA.gov)
If your primary goal is to try to avoid classroom duplicates, I’d cross Owen off the list: it was #47 in 2010 and it’s still climbing. Max is trickier to figure out: it was #98 in 2010, but combined with Maxwell and Maximus (two of the more common long-forms) it’s already up to #46 so I’d cross that one off too. Brycen/Bryson together are #95; that’s getting more comparable to the popularity of the name Colin. Chase is #66 (and sounds like a command when paired with the surname); Carson/Karson is #71. I’d scratch off Cameron: Cameron/Camron/Kameron/Kamron was #40 in 2010, but it’s also used commonly for girls so that increases the chances of a classroom duplicate.
So from your list of favorites, I’d say Cayson is the best choice for avoiding classroom duplication. Even combining it with Cason, Kason, and Caysen, it was still only #253 in 2010: about as common as Cade/Kade, but still much less common than Colin and all the other candidates.
But the statistics are national so can be misleading: certain areas tend to have more of certain sorts of names. And statistics don’t take into account how similar the names Cade and Cayson sound: I think there might be some trouble with people getting the sounds confused and ending up with Case and Cayden.
So I think if I were you I might go with a riskier-but-still-not-TOO-risky name from the finalists: Brycen or Carson, I think. Either of those is uncommon enough to be statistically unlikely to have two in a classroom, but quite different in sound from Cade and Colin. If you might have more children later on, I’d choose Brycen to introduce the second possible initial early on. If three is it, I’d lean more toward Carson.
Or, I might move down into the list of alternates. Is Cyler pronounced with a soft C like Cyrus and Cyril, or is it the same as Kyler? If it’s a respelling of Kyler, I think I wouldn’t use it because of mispronunciation hassles. Colin and Callum are hard for me to say together, and Cole seems like a blend of Cade and Colin, but I think Colter or Coleman would work great: they LOOK like they’d sound too similar to Colin, but they don’t. Camden also seems like it would work very well.
Name update! Candice writes:
Thank you for your input and the advice of your readers! We have decided to go with Bryson Benjamin Faith. We have had some negative comments from family and friends that thought we should go with another ‘C’ name because we have Cade and Colin, but we think Bryson fits well with our family, especially considering my husband is Bryan. Thanks again for your help! Bryson should be joining us soon, and I’ll be sure to send a picture when he gets here!
Coleman is my favorite
My favorite “C” name is Calvin. It may be too close to Colin, but I like the nickname Cal too. When I hear Cade, I often think of the name Pace… Don’t know why, but maybe you’d like that name too! Other suggestions I love: Dean, Reid, Grant. How about Blake?
I would be careful with Cayson, only because it is also a thing, you know? When I read it I immediately thought of Casein.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casein
With the surname and the sibling names I like Carson best for a C name and Brennan best for a B name.
Introducing new possibilities: Baxter, Bayard and Colby.
From your list I really like Cameron, Camden, Cole and Chase. But I don’t like Chase Faith.
I thik Bennet is a good “B” name for you. The only “B” name I like from your list is Blake which goes really well with his brothers names.
My top 5 for you are:
Cameron
Camden
Cole
Bennet
Blake
I agree with KWILY that “Calvin” would be great with Cade and Colin. My only hesitation would be pairing it with the last name “Faith,” since there was a famous Christian theologian named John Calvin. On the other hand, I don’t think most people would think of it. Actually, I’m not sure how many people would notice. My husband and I once had a foster baby with the birth name John Wesley (another theologian) and a fair number of people noticed it. Then again, it was mostly people at church who noticed!
What about Beckett or Calder?
I’m going to second Bennett. I love it with your boys’ names, and I’m usually not a fan of everyone having the same initial, since it would get confusing (to me, so this is just my personal preference.)
I’m not sure how you feel about leaving the Bs and Cs…but I feel like Silas might work for you.
Good luck!
Well first let me say I love your boys names and as a mama of 3 boys myself I have to tell you that I love Love LOve LOVe Colter with your older sons names. So I am unabashedly hoping you pick Colter.
My two favourites are Bryson and Carson. If you want to avoid using another C name, I think Bryson is perfect – a great name, sounds good with the others, and can shortened to Bryce, another great name.
Bryce is good. Colter is better!
For another ‘C’ name (maybe this has already been mentioned), what about Cyrus? Or Craig? Carter?
I also really like Carson from your list.
Best wishes!
I love Chase with your other kids names, but I don’t think it works with your last name :( How about Colbe? That’s one of my favorite boy names!
Carter is great too! Trendy, but classic :)
I like Colby, or Camden is ok, or Colter, or Clancy, Campbell, Chester…
What about Bronson – very similar to Bryce and Bryson without the popularity. Very handsome name!
I would also like to suggest Beckett!
I vote for Bryson, I love that name and I think it sounds good with the other boys names.
Cade, Colin and Carson sound great together.
Another C suggestion – Cedric. My son’s BF is Cedric and I absolutely love it.
Cade, Colin, and Curtis or Cyris