Well, okay, we did girl names, it seems fair to also do boy names. Same rules: see if you can access your subconscious mind and let a boy name (or names) APPEAR in your mind, rather than for example mentioning the carefully crafted name you already know is at the top of your list. If a name appears and it’s a name you dislike, you can try again, because brains can be strange. If a name appears and it’s a name you like but it wouldn’t be your first choice, or it wouldn’t work with sibling names or your surname or with what the other parent would like, don’t worry about any of those AT ALL, because this is just a game and we are not actually choosing these names, merely playing around.
Quite awhile ago now, I had a similar dream in which I was suddenly naming a boy, and in that dream I chose Oliver Frederick, and I’ve thought of that dream often enough over the years that I have significantly skewed my own playing of this game! So in my case I thought, okay, NOT Oliver Frederick, NOW which boy name SPRINGS TO MY MIND, and I immediately thought George. Which is a little bit funny, because one reason we didn’t use the name Oliver is that we’d had a cat named Oliver, and we also had a cat named George. (I LEARNED MY LESSON with those two cats: the names that seem too whimsical for a real baby and therefore perfect for a pet are often the names that will NOT seem too whimsical about a decade later, and then there will be Regret.)
I definitely do have George on my boy-name list; I don’t know where I’d rank it in terms of how likely we’d be to use it, but…medium-likely, I’d say. I think for sure it would be one of the half-dozen finalists.
My third boy name has always been Evan Joseph.
But if we’re naming triplets like on the other thread, I’d have gone with Damon, Dominic, and Dante.
Ellis
Lucian
Octavian
Elias
Ocean
As with the last name game, these are all names I’d consider if I had to name a baby tomorrow, although not necessarily in that order.
Magnus! Which has been a name on my mind lately because I genuinely don’t know if I really like it or not. Followed by Seth then Malcolm (only Malcolm is on our list).
Oliver Frederick is handsome! I hate how popular Oliver is now though. I love Frederick Oliver too. I actually think I like it better than my other combo Frederick Asher.
I also love Dmitri James, Lachlan Elliot, Eamon Francis, Rhys Alfred, Ronan Jesse, Callum Raymond, Reid Malcolm, Soren Victor, Oscar Julian, Rowan Theodore, Robin Alexander, Jensen, Conrad, Magnus, Stellan, and a bunch of other names, but boys’ names are so hard for me. Nothing feels like the “right” one.
Julian, Charlie, Callum
I always thought I’d have a son named Julian but we ultimately went with a different name.
Funny — our top names are Charlie and Calvin (which feels similar to Callum!) and I also LOVE Julian — unfortunately husband is not a fan
John! Ethan! Sebastian!
John was my top boy name if my kid had been a boy. My husband was not sold, though, so I suppose it’s good that we turned out to have a girl (and that we agreed on her name).
Henry. Which is really what we were going to use/would use. Still charms me, perfect fit with siblings and middle and last name.
But the non-sensical choice, which doesn’t match the sib set at all, is Hardy. Old old family name which I adore. I even find myself wistfully thinking about my imaginary, not ever happening, caboose little boy, Hardy.
George is a strong 3rd!
Armando, Nick (Nicholas), Zac (Zachary), Zeke (Ezekiel)
This is hard because my short list from my last pregnancy (none used because we didn’t have a boy) just sits there, refusing to budge and let any other names surface. The list is: Ian Taylor, Joshua Taylor, and William Taylor.
Oh, there’s Jonah, which I love but decided early on I couldn’t use with a sibling Noah. That’s a name-that-got-away for me. And there are my dream grandsons I mentioned in the girl post– Isaac and Nicolas, called Ike and Cole.
IRL, we have two N names now since the younger child changed their name. If I wanted to continue that trend Nicholas wouldn’t be a bad choice, but maybe called Nico instead of Cole. Or Nathaniel. Nolan is a possibility but maybe too close to Noah again.
John William. Barnaby. Basil. Whitaker.
Milo Anthony, I had a baby doll as a child mames Milo, so I think that’s where is coming from. Another one would be Vincent because of my grandpa, but that’s a little more thought out.
My head said: Merritt. Which is weird because I’ve never considered that name, and I usually think of it as a girl’s name, and it’s not really my style. Oh well! I’m kind of warming to it. It’s handsome and kind of timeless. A bit of a cowboy name.
Malcolm and Walter
Frederick is my new favorite. Silas and Benson were on my list last time. I gave my son the middle name Vernon but I think Vernon as a first name would be pretty cute. I envision calling him Van for short.
“What boy name springs to mind?”
George, done. That was easy.
“NOW which boy name SPRINGS TO MY MIND, and I immediately thought George.”
Dammit Swistle, stop psychically influencing me through these posts! XD
I have often said that if I had twins, I would name them Benjamin and Samuel. Ben and Sam.
When my daughter had a son 7 years ago, I was stunned when she told me his name upon his birth. Jasper. I LOVE it! Jasper is full of energy, adventure and very inquisitive at age 7. btw, his sister is five and named Hazel. Jasper and Hazel. YUM!
My brain said “Thomas”, and I said “Huh?”. Then my brain said “Edward”, and I said “Huh?”. Then my brain said “Edmund”, and I think I can work with that :).
Ben!
I think immediately of all the delish Scandinavian names my husband vetoed:
Soren
Jonas
Mattias
Axel
Oh, they are delicious! I also love Stellan.
The name that comes to me is Alvin which is a name I wanted as a middle (family name- full name would have been August Alvin nicknamed Auggie) but now that I’m thinking about it I actually like Alvin on its own and I also love the nickname Alvie.
Elliot (although that hasn’t been on my list in several years)
Ezra. Immediately vetoed by my husband, otherwise I’d use it in a heartbeat.
Rex. As a nickname for Robert Alexander. Oh, Swistle. Am I going to end up with a third baby because of you and this game?
Malcolm
Duncan
Matthias is our real “would gladly use, next on list” name.
George! Definitely George.
I like a lot of commenters got Malcolm into my head. Not a name I particularly like, not one I would use. When I shook it out I got Alfred which would work.
Casper, Jacob
Well, the names that were next on my boy’s list for firsts or middles for an actual child want to come to mind, Bramwell, Sylvander, Hugo. My all-time favorite boy name that I wouldn’t actually use due to popularity also comes to mind, Nathaniel. If I try to not think of those names and let something just surface, more fanciful names from lower on my list come to mind. first Constantine and then for some crazy reason Rodion, which is not on the list, but I think is standing in for similar names that are like Rhydian, Octavian, Ilarion, and Arkadian
Noah, Everett, and Desmond. Which is interesting to me because none of these were on my Boy Name list (although I find boy names to be much more challenging). I’d likely pair them with middle names that were dismissed by my husband. I would use Ever as a nickname for Everett, maybe Desi for Desmond.
Noah Walden
Everett Jude
Desmond Arlo
Will, Blaise, Miles
Rasmus – I am partial to R-names and Scandinavian names. Rufus has been on my sad-I-didn’t-get-to-use list (hopefully future pet, since we’re done with kids) and I like James.
Again, no kids and almost certainly won’t have any, but if I did, my top names for a boy are Nicholas and Sebastian. Not sure if I would use them both in a combo or not, since I’m not a fan of how they begin/end with N and S… I guess it’s less annoying with Sebastian Nicholas? But I much prefer Nicholas’s nicknames…. Well, maybe Nicholas Alexander or Sebastian Gregory. I don’t know! This is so much harder than my girl choice!
William
Nicholas (Nick)
Benjamin
The middle name would be my surname, which I didn’t get to use before.
Solomon nn Sonny
Lucian
Kit
Ricky (maybe short for Frederick?)
Desmond (nn Dessy)
Jonah (I have always loved this name from the cute little boy in Sleepless in Seattle. )
Winston and Tate come to mind first. With my maiden name as their middle because I wish I would’ve done that for one of my sons!
Edgar/Teddy! Second choice would be Jasper which a cousin used so I couldn’t.
I have a George already……
Valentine. A name my husband suggested but I wasn’t brave enough. It’s grown on me.
Penn Davidson! I recently found on Ancestry.com that my great-great grandmother was Sarah Davidson Penn. My husband’s name is David. So sorry I’m not having kids any longer and can’t use this fabulous nod to my ancestry and to my husband!
Boy names are so much harder! My first thought was Peter, which I rejected as too boring for purposes of this game, although I could well imagine actually using it. Then I thought of Benedict, which I quite like, but I can’t come up with a middle for anything.
Reading all the comments I liked Blaise and wished I had thought of that. And Nathaniel has always been a favorite of mine. So where does that leave me?
Peter Augustine
Nathaniel Francis
Blaise Evander
Benedict Patrick or Benedict Virgil-maybe? I like Edmund but maybe that’s a mouthful with Benedict? Benedict Gerard? ….
Joshua or Spencer for me!
So I did the blank mind thing and the first name that popped in my mind was Xavier Rowan. Neither ever on my list, but hey. The subconscious is weird!
I tried to imagine a baby boy um my arms and he looked like a Benjamin.
Lovely name, but not in my top 5.
Griffin.
If I were to think a bit, I would add Ezra, Desmond, and Dexter.
I am spectacularly bad at this game! The first names that popped into my mind were family names (Benjamin, Theodore, David), then names of my kids’ friends (Matt, Aiden). The only unrelated names I thought of were Owen and Max, both of which I like fine, but neither of which were on my list.
Evader
Wolfgang
Stellan
Gareth Evan
Tristan Dean
Colin Keith
Vaughan Everett
I’ve not named any children yet but, my gut name(s) for my (future) daughter(s) are Alyssa Louise, Maria Celeste, & Johanna Rose. Interesting since only Louise (& some variants), Rose (& some variants), & Johanna are on any of my lists. I’ve never thought of Alyssa before, though lately I’ve been crushing on Alice & I specifically don’t like Maria of all the Mary names.
My gut name(s) for my (future) son(s) are Jonathan James “John”, Luke Tobias, & Mark Theodore. I’ve Jonathan nn Johnny, James (& some variants), Tobias (& Toby), & Theodore nn Teddy or Theo on my lists. I’ve never thought of Luke or Mark before.
So, my gut children, are Alyssa Louise, Jonathan James “John”, Johanna Rose, Mark Theodore, Luke Tobias, & Maria Celeste.