Hi Swistle,
We are expecting a baby boy in January and are going back and forth on a limited set of names, influenced by one name’s meaning in particular. Our last name is similar to K!stler, but switch the s and t, and make it a bit more obviously Dutch in spelling and pronunciation.
This will be our second child – older brother is J@ck (just J@ck, a nod to his paternal line of Johns, including great-grandpa John-called-J@ck), middle name Br0oks which was just a name we both liked as a middle. We likely would have named a girl Marg0t M3rryn, though I was about 10% hesitant on that; it’s still in the mix for a potential third child.
We agreed early on in this pregnancy that this baby felt like an 0liver, and we were just debating middle names for a time. William and Clair were on my list – male family names on my side, which feels fair since J@ck got a family name on my husband’s side. But while watching swimming during the summer Olympics, one of us joked about Rowdy as a name, after Rowdy Gaines. I should note that we are big Olympics fans and named our dog after Bode Miller, the Olympic skier.
Well, the joke settled and soon Rowdy felt like an actual possibility – it really, really grew on us. We like the sound of it with our last name, we like that it’s different, we like the nod to the Olympics. The problem is that Rowdy is also rowdy, the adjective. The most positive definition of rowdy is “boisterous” and the worst is “disorderly” or “disturbing the peace” – ouch! We as a family are not really the disorderly, disturbing the peace type, although boisterous suits. What if our child is not disorderly or boisterous at all and we’ve given him this name? Or, because I do believe in the power of words, what if we define his personality by giving him a defining name?
So, maybe it goes in the middle spot, and for a while we have been leaning towards 0liver first, Rowdy middle, with the possibility of calling him Rowdy as he gets older if the name suits. Ok, that’s settled.
Except: we are smitten enough with the name (the sound, not the meaning) that we’ve been referring to him occasionally as Rowdy – just testing it out, as one does – and we like it. A lot! But I don’t feel like naming a kid one thing and calling him another, from birth, is the right move for me. I felt that way strongly with J@ck – my husband (who is the fourth named son and does not have John anywhere in his own name) lobbied for another John-called-J@ck, and I said well J@ck is enough of a name itself that if we know we’re going to call him J@ck, I’d just prefer to make it his official name. If we really think we’re going to call this baby Rowdy, I feel we should make Rowdy his given name. We’ve discussed this, and have come to like the idea of Rowdy first, Clair middle. The first time my husband suggested that, my gut said wow, that’s a name! Followed quickly by, am I brave enough to do that? It feels like two names that both require explanation.
Swistle, what are your thoughts on adjective names? I guess I’m also asking your thoughts on planned nicknames. Are we brave enough to give our son an adjective name with a meaning we don’t fully identify with? Or do we go with the safe choice, and approach the adjective name as a middle-but-potential-nickname?
Thank you for your insight!
Laura
I think it has happened only three or four times on this site that I have said an unmitigated “No” to a name, and I am saying it to the name Rowdy. I can see why it appeals, but it resoundingly fails the “Would I want this name for myself?” test—to the point where it also fails the “Would I want to encounter this name on someone else?” test. Speaking of tests: have you tried The Starbucks Test, where your husband goes to Starbucks or any coffee/food place where he has to give a name with his order, and tells the clerk that his name is Rowdy, just to see how that feels and what the reaction is? Sometimes even just IMAGINING doing that can be enough to make the issue clear. Another test is to go to a public place and imagine the name on each male person you see. Does it work on the awkward Target clerk? How about on the middle-aged man in a business suit? Is there any real person other than an attractive world-famous athlete on whom the name seems like a blessing?
The word rowdy has negative connotations, as you mention, and it feels too lightweight as a given name. (As an aside: it is refreshing to say this for I think the first time ever on this site about a name being considered for a boy.) It could fit the child’s temperament very well or amusingly poorly, and all of the possible fits will lead to other people making the same tired comments again and again. It feels like a joke, like giving someone the middle name Danger or Trouble; or a caricature, like if you wanted a name to mock the untamable sexy cowboy character in a fake over-the-top romance novel. The “brave vs. safe” framing is unhelpful, and sets up a false choice: you have many more options than those two; and if you decide to go with a name you consider brave, it doesn’t have to be Rowdy.
Rowdy Gaines’s parents’ naming style seems to have been the exact opposite of yours: they named their child a name they never intended to use (Ambrose, after his father Ambrose-called-Buddy) and called him by a nickname instead. This is an entire category of naming practices you specifically want to avoid. And just on top of everything else, you believe in the power of words. This makes for a very poor fit with your naming preferences, and is leaving you feeling stuck.
You mention having used Olympic athlete names for pets, and I think Rowdy would be perfect for that: you’d get to use the name you love, and say it many times a day, and it could be the given name and not have to be a nickname or middle name. (And it’s beautifully parallel to the name of your dog Bode, since Bode Miller is ALSO an athlete going by a name other than his given name. …Er, not that even Swistle pushes for coordination/consistency among pet names.) I also think Rowdy works beautifully as a Fetus Nickname: many parents continue to call their child by the pet name Teddy or Bear or Jellybean or whatever, long after giving them a completely different name on the birth certificate.
I feel as if this is a situation where suggestions of similar names will not work: there is something specific about the name Rowdy that is tugging your heart, and me suggesting Grady and Riley is not going to ease the pain of what I think is the necessary next step, which is Letting Go of the Name. Still, just in case you want the list later, or in case other parents are reading this post, let’s list a few:
Brody
Casey
Chance
Chase
Cody
Emmett
Everett
Finn
Flynn
Gage
Grady
Lee
Leo
Liam
Nolan
Ranger
Reid
Riley
Rory
Ross
Rufus
Ryder
Sam
Some of these I wouldn’t necessarily pair with a name like J@ck—but J@ck and Riley seems really nice to me, or J@ck and Reid, or J@ck and Casey, or J@ck and Lee, or J@ck and Leo.
I think it might also help soothe your heart to consider the names of other athletes you like, though it can be tricky to evaluate names in that context.
On another note, I am hugely interested in the idea of using the middle name Clair for this child. I have complained in that past that our culture finds it very positive/appealing to take names traditionally used for boys and use them for girls (there are so many baby girls right now with the middle name James), but not the other way around. You are an exception to this, and it thrills me to see it. (I will add that when using the middle name Clair/Clare/Claire, I tend to avoid first names that end in an -y/-ie/-ay sound, because of the eclair effect. But I don’t consider it a hard and fast rule, because eclairs are a positive association and the eclair effect can be charming.)
Name update:
Hello Swistle! I wanted to follow up and share with you that 0liver Rowdy was born in January. We appreciated all of your feedback and ideas, and honestly the strong reaction against Rowdy (yours and in the comments!) not only moved it out of consideration for a first name but also made me rethink whether I wanted to use it as a middle. My husband remained in support of it as a middle (turns out he knows a Rowdy?!), but it threw me into a bit of a crisis and he deferred to me. 0liver Clair just felt too stuffy, and I found I just didn’t like any other middle names with 0liver, so we ended up coming up with a completely different first and middle name set for a while. But in the end, we both just kept coming back to 0liver Rowdy. I was prepared for a negative reaction to the name but it’s actually been overwhelmingly positive. Most people who ask assume that it’s a family name, and I have to admit that I kind of love that now it will be. I was surprised by how many people know of a Rowdy in one way or another – famous people, real or fictional, or even a few on a personal level. Some friends have taken to calling him Rowdy after all, which is fine with us; he will tell us if he likes that or not as he gets older. We mostly call him 0liver, or 0llie as a nickname of endearment. Sometimes Pouty Rowdy when that cute baby pout comes out. We’ve decided to define rowdy for ourselves as “spirited” and “boisterous” which feels positive and suitable. So far he’s a sweet, happy, chatty, and loud(!) little guy. Thank you for talking me out of it as a first name, but I am also very glad we stuck with it as a middle!
I think Rowdy is an affectionate nickname but not given-name worthy. I would choose Oliver Clair with a nn of Rowdy sometimes but not exclusively. I would not do James Clair, Riley Clair, or Carson Clair. These could all make the name seem like Clair is meant to signal that the name belongs to a girl.
Exactly my response to thoughts of a sweet baby boy christened with Rowdy as his name. The word name rowdy is a negative adjective for a boy to “live down” to. And how — unintentionally — unfair that big brother gets a “regular”, established name and this little guy is called rowdy. There are hundreds of fine names you could call your second son, and I hope you will move on to one of them.
Best wishes in your continuing quest for a name for your second son.
PS If it’s not time for a another dog in your family, you could get your new baby boy __________ a cute little stuffed puppy called “Rowdy”. I am picturing your younger son carrying around his favorite stuffed animal “Rowdy” for years. It might help to purchase “Rowdy” now in anticipation of your baby’s arrival.
The word rowdy just have a negative connotation. Like the other commenter Rowdy coould be a nickname to use sometimes but not a given name. Also, wouldn’t use Clair with a unisex first name but I do think Oliver Clair works
For other names options you may look at more athletes’ names like Andre, Caleb, Carl, Donovan, Marcell, Maurice, Noah, etc.
I am usually a go-for-it type with names. But Rowdy just doesn’t work! When I saw the title of this post in my Feedly feed, I thought: oh no! I wonder if there could be names that sound like Rowdy that you would like. I see Swistle suggested Brody. Maybe Howell? Or could you take another look at your family tree? Perhaps there is a last name in there somewhere that you’ve discarded and could be a winner? Just listening to a podcast discussing the Louisiana congressman Hale Boggs and thought what a great first name! (It was his middle, I learned from Wikipedia). A journalist in the podcast had the first name Dobbs. These both strike my ear as delightful but also might have initially seemed unusable. Anyway: my two cents. All the best of luck!
I think it’s fascinating that you like Rowdy for the sound, but not the meaning. To me, that’s likely a reason not to use it – absolutely no one else will be able to look past the meaning – but maybe you’d like Rudy or Howie? Cody? Jody?
I know you don’t like the idea of planning to call a kid something other than their given name, but I wonder if you might bend the rule a bit in this case. To me, a nickname that develops naturally is a bit different than one that’s “targeted,” as in, naming them John just to get to Jack. I think Rowdy might fall in the naturally-arising category – or it could be put there. Nicknames that are completely unrelated to the given name can be charming. If I were in your shoes, I would likely go with Oliver Clair and indulge in calling him Rowdy as a nickname.
PS. Love Clair for the middle!
I agree that Rowdy is an awesome dog name. :)
If not Rowdy then maybe Crosby, Murphy, Grady, Jacoby (ok, not with brother Jack), or Ransom? Or Rafferty? Rafferty feels mischievous like Rowdy but doesn’t have the negative association.
I love Jack and Murphy! Or Jack and Grady. Grady Clair is very handsome.
I see no one has suggested Hardy yet…I feel like Hardy would be perfect.
Please do not name your child Rowdy, especially not when the older sibling has such an extremely normal and common name. If you had already named your older child Trigger or Danger or Ace or Rodeo, I would still think Rowdy was a bad idea, but I would at least think you probably wouldn’t regret it.
(For what it’s worth, this advice is coming from a “brave” namer – there were only 29 US babies with my son’s name the year he was born.)
I can’t really get behind Rowdy, other than as an occasional nickname. I like Oliver Clair or Oliver William. Or if you want a “good trouble” kind of meaning, maybe Lewis (for John Lewis) or the name of some other historical figure whose bravery you admire.
I completely agree with Swistle on her points about this being a difficult name, but I think even beyond that it’s especially not the right name for YOU. It would be one thing if the rest of your list included names like Maverick, Cannon, Axl… Even with already having a Jack, the family connection makes it more understandable that you would use one “staid and steady” name and then rambunctious names for the rest of your kids. But you’re considering following Rowdy with names like Oliver and Margo… solidly back in the category of Jack. This would not only be a difficult name to live with in general, but it would be especially burdensome for a child whose siblings have no remotely similar issues with their own names.
I wonder if it would help to think of Rowdy as being in a completely different category of nickname from Jack – there are traditional nicknames that have come to be used as given names, like Jack, Nora, Liam… and then there are more casual nicknames that often have nothing to do with the given name, like Rowdy, Bunny, or Happy. If you never plan to call your child John, Eleanor, or William, there’s no real reason to give them the full name, because both are perfectly respectable, livable names. A kid named Jack doesn’t “need” backup name options any more than a kid named Kai. But a kid named Rowdy who’s facing all kinds of potential struggles with his name (as you yourself recognize) would probably appreciate options, even if you never anticipate using them yourself. At the very very least, I would give a kid named Rowdy an extremely normal middle name so he can switch to that if he ever wants to – think Rowdy Oliver rather than Rowdy Clair.
If you’re willing to use Rowdy as a nickname, there are two main directions you could take: 1) picking a name that Rowdy could theoretically derive from (Rowland, Rodney, Woodrow) or 2) picking literally any name you want and calling him Rowdy. Honestly, I think option 2 is more common for this type of nickname, which usually starts as just an affectionate pet name for a busy baby, and it gives you a lot of room to use the name as much or as little as ends up feeling appropriate (with no regrets that you chose a name you didn’t like just to get to Rowdy, only to realize Rowdy isn’t right for him). Maybe he’s Rowdy most of the time as an infant, then he registers for school as Oliver and mostly shifts to that as an older child, then picks up on Rowdy as a cool nickname as a high school athlete, then has Oliver to put on his resume as an adult. Letting it be a pet name instead of a “name name” relieves most of the burden of the name while still letting you use the cute sound you love at appropriate times of his life.
I’ll add one slightly different thought here: as someone with a very unusual (and gender non-specific) first name AND middle name, I have often thought that things would be easier if my middle name had been very simple and classic. Then during the years I felt oppressed by my odd first name, I would have had a easy backup. If you do ultimately feel called to use Rowdy as a first name, I would strongly suggest using a very classic, easy, obviously boy middle name, to give your kid an alternative if he needs it.
Laura, while this advice from Swistle is possibly going to make you sad, it is ***Good Advice***. I would pick a R name you like, I personally love Reid as it goes perfectly with Jack, and call him Rowdy Reid when you feel like it.
I also agree with commenter above who recommended staying away from gender neutral names like Riley and Rory if you are using the middle name Clair. I am generally all about gender bending and non-normative names, but this feels like a set-up that may lead to some distress.
Rusty came to mind while I was reading the post. It has the similar -ee ending and R beginning. Jack and Rusty?
I want to know which names Swistle has said a hard no to!
Let’s see. The ones I remember are:
1. Ezra ONLY BECAUSE it was for a girl with a sister named Emma.
2. Felony for a girl.
3. Crash for a boy.
Felony??????
How. What. Why???
It was…memorable. I think of it from time to time, even now, and that child must now be in middle school.
I’m happy to see that every single one of the 3 you said no to ended up going with another name in the end!
Joining the chorus of “don’t do it”. A name that loaded should only be chosen by the person going by it (like if your husband wants everyone to start calling him Rowdy, sure). It’s not ok to do it to a third party who has no choice in the matter. Imagine if he gets picked up past curfew by police as a teen, or has trouble self regulating at school, or, or, or. That name is going to land so poorly. It’s not cute. Don’t do it.
I’m sorry; I’m not liking Rowdy either. Rowdy’s wildly out of character for your usual style and his bro’s name. It’s got negative connotations. It might feel weird to him since the other unusual athlete name/nickname in your family is the dog’s. It’s a little too on-the-nose if he’s the boisterous sort, & it’ll definitely feel weird if he’s a quiet, studious sort.
Oliver Clair sounds fun, honestly. Clair all by itself has a bit of startle factor.
Howie’s very close in sound to rowdy and doesn’t have the connotations. Howie Clair, Howie Oliver, Rowdy Howie when he’s being a handful? Howdy, Howie as a greeting?
I wonder whether the name Gaines might not feel like a compromise to you. It would pair a little better with Jack’s name. Or does Rodney feel like it hits the same mouth spots are Rowdy? Or would you feel better having it all in there (Oliver Rowdy Clair) that way you could memorialize this moment?
Oh good one! I like the idea of Gaines!
I wouldn’t use Rowdy as a name or a nickname. The meaning has negative connotations, plus Rowdy is close in sound to your dog’s name Bode (Boh-dee). Try calling out “Rowdy!” in the house and see if your dog comes running.
Also imagine using the name in everyday conversations. “Remember to make Rowdy’s doctor appointment” “Rowdy has a bad diaper rash!” etc. Make a fake evite “You’re invited to Rowdy’s birthday party!” See how it feels as an actual, everyday name.
I’d suggest:
Rudy
Ross
Hudson
Quinn
Oliver (nickname Ollie, “Ollie” I think is a skateboarding or snowboarding term, kind of the same vibe as Rowdy but more mainstream)
Cameron (nickname Cam)
Leo
Quincy
Quillan
Otto
I think that Oliver Clair sounds great. While Oliver is quite popular right now, I think that Clair in the middle makes it sparkle, and the family connection is great. But I do think that Rowdy and Oliver are really different stylistically, so going with one of Swistle’s suggestions might be a good fit too. I think Ross could be really great with his brother’s name. I like the story about how you came up with Rowdy, and I want to be into it, but unfortunately it’s a no from me. But still do the Starbucks test! That is fun for any name you love regardless of outcome.
I agree with the other comments and also wanted to throw out the name Rawley as an idea too. I’m not sure it fits with Jack, but one of my friends used it for her son and it has similar sounds as Rowdy.
Um…long time reader first time commenting? So, I do know a family that had very classic names until the youngest, whom they named Rowdy. What was maybe cute or quirky at age 5 is ridiculous in a near adult. A mutual friend said that after a couple of drinks one of the parents expressed regret about it. I prefer very traditional names for my kids, but figure it’s not my business what someone else chooses. But that is the worst name I’ve come across in real life.
I was curious about Rowdy Gaines, as I don’t follow the Olympics and I do love meaningful spunky name choices.
So I find it notable that he’s Ambrose Gaines the third, called Rowdy. And his father is the Second, called Buddy. His mom’s name was Jettie, which I’m super curious to know the background on, since her obit lists her as Jettie. Rowdy has four kids of his own and none are boys, so we can’t see if he would have had a Fourth, called XX. Instead, he has girls with very mainstream names (Emily, Madison, Isabelle, Savanna.) Now, I know sometimes one parent has more power over naming than the other, but he didn’t give his girls unconventional names on paper. That’s often the biggest insight into how a person feels about their own name – how they choose to name when it’s their turn to name. So maybe take a page from Rowdy’s life and use a formal name on paper and see if he suits Rowdy when you get to know him?
I will add one personal experience – we gave my second daughter a nickname name with a surname/masculine name as her first middle name. When she was five months old I had some regret over her name entirely and one factor was she wouldn’t have that middle to fall back on. So we changed her first middle to a useable classic choice. (And we did anecdotal research with people we knew who have nickname names on paper and those who go by their middles. Overwhelming response was Name Kid What You’ll Call Kid.)
We had a guinea pig named Rowdy. It was a joke name because he was so quiet!
I’m Australian and here Rowdy is an old fashioned joke nickname of the type that older Australians used to love. Think red heads named Blue and Fowler’s named Chook. Rowdy was used exclusively for very quiet people who rarely said a word. I have a cousin (female) named Rowd (for Rowdy), her given name is Ann. It works for her and I’m used to it as a name.
I had pregnancy nicknames for my kids and they were appealing at the time but I’d be hard pressed to remember them all now. I would pick a name in your normal style and let the nickname fall where it may. (My kids are old enough to have their own nicknames, unconnected to what I would have chosen despite having family nicknames).
Maybe Roderick gets you to Rowdy?
Sorry, I don’t know if that was clear. I have a cousin Ann, who being very quiet was nicknamed Rowdy as a child and as an adult calls herself Rowd. (With an ow sound like ouch).
I used to babysit a boy named Richard with the nickname Hardy. I’m not sure it works with the last name but it’s an option.
What about Rowan, nn Rowdy? Rowan Oliver sounds great!
So I’m the first to mention “Rowdy” Roddy Piper?
Pro wrestler and star of They Live. His given name was Roderick.
Kati, every single time I read the name Rowdy in the post, I would say Rowdy Roddy Piper in my head!
Agreeing with everyone else, but just to add that I can’t believe noone has brought up Rowdy Burns from Days of Thunder!
Maybe I’m showing my age, but that’s who comes to mind for me when I hear the name :-)
(and he’s described on Wikipedia as “dirty driver Rowdy Burns”)
Yes!! This is all I could think of reading this post. Rowdy Burns!
I really enjoy word names but I’m not sure I can get behind Rowdy. My biggest association with the word is the camp song Susan Caine sings in her Ted Talk: the power of introverts, which may highlight how a non-rowdy Rowdy might feel later in life about their name. It does make a cute nickname if the shoe fits.
Somewhere between Oliver and Rowdy is…
Owen
Bowen (Bowie)
Rowland (Rowley)
Roland (Rolly/Roly/Roly-Poly)
Howard (Howie)
Lowell
Brooks
Brock
Booker
So…you might live in the Mountain West part of the US if you know multiple Rowdy’s haha. It’s not my style but it’s not appalling to me as a name.
I think you already know that it’s an outlier for your style too. I wonder if maybe another “cowboy-esque” name might work?
Wyatt, Sawyer, Gus, Quentin, Rhodes, or maybe even Wilder.
And a Rhodes could be Rhodey like Iron Man’s sidekick! Only one sound away from Rowdy.
Oh, this is genius. Rhodes nn Rhodey.
My kids all had nicknames that I used while pregnant with them (because we never shared their real names until after birth). So because I used the nickname so often while referring to the fetus, it became pretty attached to the baby. With my oldest in particular, we continued to often call him by his in-utero name for several months after he was born. But the nickname was a silly pun based on our last name, and so of course I was glad he had a totally different real name, and by 6 months old we never used the pregnancy nickname anymore and didn’t really miss it. He’d “evolved” into his actual name, so to speak. I suspect you’ll have the same experience with Rowdy into Future Actual Name.
But if for some reason you still feel attached to Rowdy, one other thing to note is that I have a friend who uses her baby’s in-utero nickname as her internet pseudonym. So maybe you could keep the name Rowdy in your life that way. I feel like it’s a win-win because she gets to keep using the nickname she enjoys and her daughter gets to maintain her anonymity on the internet until she’s old enough for her own social media accounts. (For what it’s worth, my friend shared the baby’s real name when she was born and then as far as I can see hasn’t used it online since.)
I think before you meet your baby, when all you have is kicks and hiccups and imaginings, it’s quite easy to attach quirky, sentimental names to them and think ‘oh this is SO adorable, I’ve become really attached to it, I think it’s what we should call you.’ And OCCASIONALLY that actually happens. But mostly, they’re born and they come out with those perfect little shell ears and furry backs, and you’re like, ‘ok, no. You’re still adorable but we can’t call you Pickle/Lentil/Smasher/Steve,’ (my first bump was genuinely called Steve FYI. She was a girl.)
I think maybe this is that kind of situation? I agree with everyone else, Rowdy doesn’t have the right connotations to carry through life. And you just don’t *seem* like a Rowdy-style namer, you know? As you say, you’re not formal-name-random-nickname people, and you’re not Maverick/Blaze/Danger namers. Your heart has just become attached to this one specific name.
My mom called my brother “elf” when he was in utero. His father added it as a 2nd middle name to the birth certificate, because it was “so cute.” Mom was horrified. Unsurprisingly, my brother has refused to acknowledge it since he was about 6.
I know someone named Rowdy in real life! He is the husband of my friend (in his early 40’s) and over the years I have watched her get reactions 99% of the time when she tells a new person his name. It’s usually in the form of “wait. Did you say your husbands name is ROWDY?! Is that his real name or a nickname? (Answer: it’s his real name) Wow. That’s…interesting”. They also ask whether he has a rowdy personality or if his parents had a reason for naming him that or make some other kind of jokey comment. When people meet him they usually ask about his name and say “you don’t seem like a Rowdy!”
The name definitely makes an impression is what I’m saying. Even in adulthood.
I wonder if you might like Russell and call him Rusty. Rusty has the same kind of friendly/informal feeling as rowdy, but Russell would give a more formal name to use in school or as an adult or whatever. My dad has a friend named Rusty who I’m guessing goes by Russell most of the time but my dad still calls him Rusty and I don’t find it weird at all the way rowdy might be. Russell/Rusty is a good brother for jack, I think.
Brothers Jack and Russell immediately made me think of Jack Russell Terrier. I guess if Russell was always called Rusty or Russ or Rowdy, it would be okay, but the pairing of the formal/legal first names would be a “no” for me.
Oh man I didn’t even catch that! Maybe that’s why it seemed fitting to me when I thought of it. Oops!!!
I remembered that there’s a current baseball player (nick)named Rowdy and found this on his Wikipedia page: “His father said of him before he was born: “We didn’t know the sex and we didn’t want to know, and we stayed away from calling him ‘Baby’ or ‘It.’ But he was so active in there, moving around all of the time in the womb, that we ended up calling him ‘Baby Rowdy,’ and it stuck. Now he’s just ‘Rowdy,’ and that’s how everybody knows him.”” Funny that it’s along the same lines of what many commenters have said! His given name is Ryan.
i think the choice here is not “should we be brave, or play it safe,” it’s “should we prioritise ‘our desire to think of ourselves as brave’ over the difficulty and unpleasantness that this name choice will add to our child’s life.”
if you really feel attached to “rowdy” then sure, call your child that, but put something else on the birth certificate so that he can if he wants choose without hassle not to introduce himself as “noisy and disorderly.”
I feel like your love for the name Rowdy might be making it hard for you to assess how you feel about the baggage that comes with it. Maybe it would help to trying thinking about other names with similar properties? For example, what would you think if a friend wanted to name their child Mayhem?
Whichever way you go, there is going to have to be a compromise. Rowdy on the meaning and Oliver on the flutter factor. It’s clear that your heart is with Rowdy and wouldn’t it be great if there was some way to make that work?
Generally the thinking behind having a formal name and using a fun nickname is so the child has something to fall back on.
You deliberately gave your first son the name you intended to use – with no need for a fall back option. However, while Jack is an established nickname for John, its not an intuitive one, and Jack has become a name in it’s own right.
Because of Rowdy’s meaning, it seems that for it to work what it needs is not so much a name to fall back on, but a name to introduce it. A name that will not immediately give a perception as to his character, particularly a negative one. What I mean is, that when you enroll him somewhere or make an appointment for him for the first time … when someone has a list and sees that their future student, team member, employee, next patient etc is called Rowdy …. subconsciously or otherwise they are likely not expecting to find him quiet and orderly. Having a less obviously descriptive name to go before him may soften his introduction and rather allow him first impressions based more on his character.
With this in mind, there have been several suggestions of names that might allow you to use Rowdy as a nickname … or an introductory name. They’re great suggestions, with some more intuitive than others. There is a fair amount of variety among the suggestions … are there any you could use happily, while still using Rowdy for everyday use? Or looking at the options, would you prefer to go with Oliver? Or after reading everyone’s advice, do you still want to stick with Rowdy? It’s a decision for you and your husband to make, but your reaction to these questions might help you in your decision.
I do have one other suggestion, and I’d be interested in how other people would perceive this name (is it still too close?) …
… Rowden.
It’s a surname name, and uncommon, but for which Rowdy would be an intuitive, even natural, nickname … as natural as Tommy for Thomas, or Alex for Alexander … and therefore allow you to naturally use Rowdy consistently and still give him a (hopefully) more neutral introductory name. It’s meaning is something like ‘of the rough hill’, and so it is different from rowdy in its origin.
My other thought was Riordan, which is an Irish name meaning poet. I’ve heard it used with the pronunciation Rordan (like Jordan), but pronunciation varies considerably, so perhaps it is more hassle than it’s worth.
Whatever you decide, you can be confident that much love and thoughtfulness has gone into this little one’s name.
All the very best!
I liked the suggestions of Raleigh or Rhodes
I also can only think of Rowdy Burns from Days of Thunder. It’s a very strong association for me (early 40s female). I would use Rowdy as a family nickname.
I’m sorry it’s a personal thing, but I don’t like the initials O.K. if you go with Oliver, although I do love the name.
I like the name Rowdy. I think it’s fun. It does paint a picture for your family – cowboy? And with a possible third named Margot down the line, I’m kind of digging it. It could also swing the other way and be rather surfer. I have followed a blogger-turned-instagramer who named her first child Rowdy. He seems very Opposite of the connotations and I think that has affected my view. Plus, it grows on you! They call him Rue, probably from a natural nickname – it seems quite easy to fall into a Rowdy Roo deal for a baby!
Honestly, I like it. I say go for it. I think you’re brave enough. Rowdy Clair is honestly darling.
I wonder if you would like the Irish name Ronan. It means “little seal” so there is still a swimming connection… Although the o sound is different (oh in Ronan versus ow in Rowdy), I think you could easily still use Rowdy as a nickname if it suited.
I suggest : Rowley or Roly as a nn for Rowland, Rolan
This name reminds me of another wild choice of I kid I’ve met in real life – Riot. First, I thought he was “Ryan.” Then I thought I just couldn’t understand what I was hearing. And the kid was a wild 3 year old. I don’t know what message you’re trying to send by naming your kid Riot. That you like chaos? Rock & roll? Comedy? Video games? If you just love the sound, you could pick Wyatt. It seems like a weird, unsuitable name at any age, however the person turns out. I googled Rowdy as a nickname and found suggestions for Robert, Roderick, and Rudolph. I think Jack & Robert sound like a great set, and Rowdy can call himself Rob if he doesn’t like Rowdy. But Rowdy on the birth certificate is really nuts after Baby #1 is Jack.
For me Rowdy falls into a category of names I Would Not Want. In my real actual life I have encountered:
A boy named Oven
A girl named Gamble
A boy named Riot
A girl named Ryatte (?)
I TALK about these kids like OMG and do you know that I know an actual human baby whose legal first name is OVEN.
If I encountered Rowdy on a school list, I would do the same.