Hi Swistle!
I started writing this a month or so ago and never finished thinking we had plenty of time since we are due in 10 weeks however this past week I was hospitalized with preterm labor and will be here until this baby is born. We are hoping for a few weeks but it could be any day now so we are running out of time! A few things about us that might help with the naming process… we don’t want a cutesy name but are a fan of the classics, we think a name needs to fit a baby and an adult, and our last name starts with a B. This is our first child and we are not finding out the gender!We are stuck on boy names….we went through the family history and the only name we liked was my dad’s middle name Franklin, which we would only use as a middle name. For some reason I am getting caught up on the fact that a lot of the names we like don’t have nicknames even though we agree we don’t need one. We tend to nickname everything so having SOME kind of nickname just seems to make sense.
Names I like:
Clarke
Crawford
Henry
ShepherdNames he likes:
Holden
Crawford
KellanNames from our list that we ruled out:
Elliott
Wade
CollinWe have the name Crawford overlapping but somehow it just hasn’t felt right. We don’t have a leader and are open to suggestions! For reference, we have the names Anna or Lydia picked out if it is a girl.
If you guys tend to nickname everything, nicknames will evolve naturally even if the name doesn’t have a natural nickname. Paul and I are big nicknamers, and all five kids have multiple nicknames, and most of those nicknames have nothing to do with the child’s actual given name. Henry’s main nickname is a two-initial name (like PJ or JD) that isn’t the same as his actual initials. Elizabeth’s main nickname is Pinky. These things just happen.
True, a family nickname is not the same as a nickname the child can use at school, and so if that feels important to you, it may be appropriate to reevaluate the “it doesn’t need a nickname” agreement.
With a possible future sister named Anna or Lydia, my favorite from both lists is Henry. I find Henry Holden and Henry Crawford appeal to me, but Henry Franklin is great too.
I wish Franklin could be a first-name option. It shares sounds with many of the other names on your lists; it’s classic and non-cutesy; it’s adorable on a baby but great on an adult; it’s great with Anna/Lydia; etc.
I think at this point, where you each have a list and the only overlap doesn’t feel like The Name, I’d do the “similar names” game: writing down each name from your lists, and then seeing if you can brainstorm names that are similar to those names in style or sound or general feel. The names that feel similar will vary considerably from person to person, but I’ll show you how it would look if I did it:
Clarke
Reid
Grant
Marcus
Brooks
Calvin
Clay
Karl
Carson
Henry
Simon
Wesley
Everett
Charlie
Milo
Oliver
Leo
George
Shepard
Fletcher
Miller
Archer
Deacon
Spencer
Crawford
Lawson
Sawyer
Hawkins
August
Davis
Holden
Nolan
Malcolm
Truman
Hudson
Wilson
Cole
Kellen
Keller
Declan
Lincoln
Corbin
Emmett
Callum
Ian
Kieran
Stellan
Keaton
Bennett
Another fun exercise is to get your hands on a copy of The Baby Name Wizard, look up each name on your list, and pick your favorite name from the suggested brother names; then look up THAT name and so on. For example, let’s say we look up Clarke. Suggested brother names for Clark are Ward, Carlton, Hal, Lewis, Clyde, and Stuart. Don’t worry if you wouldn’t choose any of those; just pick the one you like BEST. Let’s say you choose Lewis. We look up Lewis; Lewis doesn’t have its own listing, but Louis does and I like that spelling better anyway. Brother name suggestions for Louis are Arthur, Jules, Edward, George, Theodore, and Charles. Let’s say your favorite from that list is George, so then you look up George and etc. etc. etc. If you get to a dead-end or a loop, you can go back and try another brother name for Clark. You could also start by looking up brother names for Anna or Lydia.
What I find is that this game helps me narrow down my style (“Hm, I seem to keep ending up with Timeless names and Ladies and Gentleman names”), helps me identify outliers (“No matter which path I follow from this name, I don’t find any names I like”), and helps me beef up my list in general.
Name update:
Name update: After a month in the hospital, our little boy came in fast on July 11th. By then he already had a name to me, so Henry Franklin was born at 4 pounds and 32 weeks. I knew I made the right choice when we told my dad and he left the room crying! Henry just came home after 36 days and he’s doing great! Thanks for all of the suggestions!
I have a friend with an older Henry “Hank” Franklin! It’s a great name.
Alden might appeal too, but maybe not with Franklin. Good luck!
Our son is Callahan (Cal). I love that it is not too babyish and still has a playful, yet strong nickname.
We are also struggling with a name for baby #2, due any day. We just knew with our first, but nothing seems to meet that same spark. Our front runner for a boy is Bennet (Ben). We also liked Dalton, Everette (Rhett), Adler, Porter and Julian. I also love names with nicknames- especially since we prefer longer names (multi-syllable), as we have a short, one syllable last name that also starts with B.
You have a lot of hard C sounds in the mix, as well as a lot of surnamey-sounding names.
What about Corbin, Callum or Calvin?
I really like Corbin for you.
Hang in there- waiting for baby in the hospital is tough.
I love Franklin “Frankie”.
Have you thought about Ford? On its own or as a nickname for Crawford. Very handsome and goes with traditional names or more modern styles.
I am 38 weeks and naming my son Stellan – also big on nickname so we are already calling him Stells. You might also like Crosby, Hugh, Heath.
Were you a reader of MckMama? I was considering naming my child Stellan but wound up having a girl. I haven’t ran across anyone else who has that name or who has considered it!
I really like Franklin with Frank or Frankie as a nickname. From the others, Clark is the only one I considered nickname proof. You could do Hank, Hal, Shep, Ford or Kel or even Kelly for the others.
Swistle a suggestions are great. I’ll add Mark, Luke, Drake, Ford, Lee and Gant to the like Clarke list. Instead of Crawford perhaps Dawson or Lawson? Ford also works here. Kind of a long shot, but Wilford also came to mind. Or maybe Wilson? Instead of Henry, Jasper. And I’ll add Lachlan to the instead of Kellen list.
there’s a little Franklin in my son ‘s preschool class (2 year-olds). They been together since they were 4 months old. The first time i heard his name I was like ‘oh! that’s not a name a expected.’ but it quickly turned into “what a cute name!” So my vote is for Franklin as the first name.
Just so you know, Henry Crawford is a character in Austen’s Mansfield Park, and, spoiler alert, he’s a scoundrel. A little obscure, but it has negative associations for me!
For some reason the name Oscar (or Oskar if you want the German spelling) came to mind when I looked over your list. Oscar Franklin is darling. Your list has many different styles of names on it–which is great, it means you like a lot of different names–so it is hard to recommend. I love Roscoe Franklin for you, or Mason, or Rhett, or Clay. I don’t love Franklin in the first spot because Frankie sounds girlish to me, but I love it in the second spot. Shepherd is my favorite from your list. Good luck!
Henry Crawford might sound good because it’s vaguely familiar–the name of one of the main characters in Mansfield Park, and not a particularly admirable one.
Just coming in to say exactly this. The reference is neither obscure nor is the character a good person.
We’d love more suggestions! We have heard about Henry Crawford, which of course made sense because it was the only name we had agreed, on so now we’ve ruled that out.
Possibly Declan, Finnegan (Finn) or Sullivan (Sully)?
I love the idea of using Franklin nn Frankie as the first name it’s a great name!
Instead of Crawford, perhaps Bradford? Linden came to mind. Hmm, Walden? Roland also sprung to mind
Russell?
Sullivan?
you seem a bit meh on Franklin, but seem to like the concept of a family name. This is a stretch, but how about Ernest? Here’s how I got there: Franklin–> Frank –> Ernest.
I have a daughter Anna and my son is Declan (Dex). Although Declan Franklin isn’t great… Another name I wanted to suggest that I didn’t see anywhere was Walker.
Crawford Franklin – since you both like Crawford. I hadn’t heard of the character the others were talking about so I don’t have that association. NN’s could be Ford, Frank or Frankie, Craw would work or Raw. You could even do C.F. as the NN. Ford is the one I like the best and it is not totally weird as a name. Ford is #731 on the SS list of popular names for 2015 which would put it in the unusual but not heard of list. If that’s the name you like don’t let a reference from a book that most people haven’t read put you off.