Hello Swistle!
Baby boy due in January and my husband and I are having trouble agreeing on a name. His brothers name is Lennox West and our last name is Dioguardi. My family is scandinavian so I want to honor that and I also love boy names with an X so Axel is my first choice. I have always loved that name. My husband thinks its too ‘tough guy’ and that our son should be in a biker gang. My husband likes the names Marcus, Gray, Grayson and I think those are boring and dont go with our last name or brothers name. We have talked about Oliver and Oscar but they are not quite our style though I do like the names. Help me convince my hubby that Axel is the right choice or suggest other names.
Anna Dioguardi
Lennox and Axel feels like a lot of X to me, but that’s very subjective. Lennox is unisex (given to 394 new baby girls and 692 new baby boys in 2016) but Axel is not; I think this contrast may add even more to the macho feeling of Axel. Your husband’s choice of Grayson is an excellent style match for Lennox, but if you don’t like it we should look for something else.
Baxter (has an X)
Brogan
Channing
Crosby
Finley
Fletcher
Flynn
Keaton
Lawson
Logan
Meyer
Miller
Quincy
Paxton
Redford
Thompson
Xavier (has an X)
For Scandinavian names, I used Nameberry:
Anders
Anderson
Broder
Callan
Carlsen
Daven
Ericson
Hanson
Haldan
Janson
Jenson
Kai
Kieron
Olsen
Verner
I love Anders (and Axel, actually)!
On a Scandinavian bent, what about:
Carsten
Erik/Arik
Soren
Sven
I love Anders to but its my brothers name and we arent that close. Glad you like Axel, me too!
The other names I am not so sure about.
MAGNUS. That is all.
Hubby doesnt like it
Came here to suggest Magnus, but others beat me to it!
If your husband truly hates Axel, I am sorry to say it, but I think it’s best to let it go and find something you both love (even if there are other names you each love more).
Magnus is so perfect though, at least to me. Worth considering! I also think it sounds great with your surname.
He doesnt hate it-hes just not so sure about it
Magnus he def doesnt like
What about Markus? Would you like that better than Marcus?
This was my suggestion, too! Markus sounds like a great Scandi name.
Hmm, none of the Dax/Dex/Jax (ton)s?
Huxley
Essex
Maddox
I know brothers named Fletcher and Lennox. Fletch and Knox
Or how about Xander?
Or Soren?
Or Arni?
Or Konstantin?
How about Alexander (or Aleksander)? Or Felix?
I am not sure that you can convince your husband to like/love a name that conjure up negative images for him. It would help if you could provide examples to him of famous Axel’s who are not bikers, athletes, or heavy metal band members. I think there is a page of famous people with the name Axel on Wikipedia. You could select a few that are in fields that your husband respects, learn more about them and share that information with your husband.
Another approach might be to soften the name by using a hyphenated name.
Axel-Gray
Axel-Sage
Axel-Milo
Perhaps a softer, more traditional middle name will convince your husband that little Axel has options if the name just doesn’t fit.
Axel James
Axel William
Axel Elliot
If none of that works and your husband isn’t convinced. You probably need to move on. I do like Magnus as an edgier alternative to Marcus. Other Scandinavian names that I find appealing, especially with Lennox are:
Erik
Kasper
Viggio
Ulrik
And names with the x sound that I think work well well with Lennox are:
Maximus
Dexter (I like this with your last name)
Xavier
Hmm. I love Axel nn Ace, so I see where you are coming from. However, there are loads of great Scandi choices for you!
Asael is a solid choice. It gives you a similar sound to Axel, but it is definitely less harsh and still has the super cool nn Ace. I also really love Viggo for you because it has the super cool vibe you want, without the biker image. Magnus is pretty cool too.
Asael and Lennox
Anders and Lennox
Viggo and Lennox
Magnus and Lennox
I agree, it seems like a lot of X. I would also consider if you might be having more kids-having an X theme sibling set is only going to get harder with each baby. But bottom line, if your husband doesn’t like it, you’ll have to eliminate it.
I think Grayson is an great style match for Lennox. In addition to Swistle’s suggestions, I’ll add Archer, Porter, Holden, and Bennett.
Yes to Maddox, Erikson, and Magnus. What about Gunnar or Fiske?
What about spelling it Aksel? More scandinavian, less x/macho. Or same with Oscar – Oskar…makes it less boring!
I love Viggo.
Vega
Gunnar / Gunner (too many Ns?)
Ivan
Ivar
Nels / Niels
Ragnar
Vilhelm
Torvald
Sixten (has an X, sounds like the cost of something?)
But Viggo though.
Ooh–Ivan is great.
Ack–I didn’t mean to write that but I can’t figure out how to undo it. I do love Ivan!!! I just would have worded it differently.
The name is being used more – my daughter’s kinder class had one (and an Alex. And an Ava and an Avier, and 2 other A names, so that 20% of the class started with A’s. I’m a name nerd and I noticed.) So it’s not just for long haired rockstars anymore.
There are some names on one spouse’s list that are no-gos for the other. I always hoped to name a son after my grandmother Gerald (great-grandpa -really- wanted to name one of his kids after his best friend) but my husband was sexually assaulted by a Jerry. No matter how much he loves Grandma Gerry (and he does, because she was awesome) it just isn’t going to happen.
Speaking of my grandparents, Grandpa’s family were Swedish. Oskar, Frederik, and Viktor are pretty common up on that branch.
I think that if you want this new little guys name to have an X in it, it would pair better to have it at the beginning or middle vs the end of the name (like Xavier and Xander, or Huxley and Paxton). I especially like Xander. The suggestions of Magnus or Soren really resonated with me too. Maybe Zane?
Ooh I really like the Baxter suggestion!
Dylan and Blake seem like style matches to Lennox. Both are used for boys and girls and fit into what I consider to be a Modern Cool category. Wilder, Alaric, Beau, spring to mind.
Lennox West and–
– Dylan Kai
– Magnus Leif
– Blake Grayson
– Alaric Beau
– Blake Axel
– Magnus Gray
I’m so excited to see Baxter mentioned! It’s one of my out-there dream names.
I was going to say Viggo too!
I can see how Lennox would match Greyson but when you mention that you like Axel because of the edgy ‘x’ sound, then it changes Lennox from the ‘modern’ or ‘unisex’ categories to ‘edgy-cool-kid’ category for me. So I’d go with names like: Rafferty (or just Rafe), Walt, Rufus, Amos, or Taj. Other names with an ‘x’, ‘z’, or ‘v’: Zane, Zander, Maverick, Everett, Vin, or Harvey.