Baby wants a name

[loverofhistory.livejournal.com]

 I am having a bit of a naming conundrum that ya'll might be able to help me out with.

Next month my first child, a boy, is due. We're having a bit of trouble with the naming process, though, because we have very different tastes.

After much bickering we settled on the middle name Paul for his grandfather. He originally wanted it as the first name, but I'm just not a fan of the name.

So for the first name I chose Liam, and I thought we were settled, but now he's championing the name Anthony. He is of the opinion that Liam is weird name, too exotic or something because he had never heard it where he grew up. I tell him that it's becoming a pretty popular name, but he just isn't buying it.

Anyway, what do you guys think?

Anthony or Liam?

Comments

[behindgrey-eyes.livejournal.com]

I really like both names! XD Liam is my cousins name so I quite like it and yet Anthony is nice because I think it suits both a young boy and an older man. Sorry if that was of no help :p

[conneals.livejournal.com]

What about William and calling him Liam?

[tappergirl.livejournal.com]

ooh I like this idea.

[loverofhistory.livejournal.com]

I actually suggested this! I thought it would be a win-win, but his boss is named William and it turned him off the idea.

[quinnthevixen.livejournal.com]

MTE. Surely he'll have heard the name William before.

[tappergirl.livejournal.com]

I much much much prefer Liam (one of my absolute fave boy names) but I think I like Anthony Paul better than Liam Paul. I don't think Liam is "exotic" at all- in my area it's getting pretty common.

[sarahness.livejournal.com]

I don't think with Liam or Anthony you guys could lose, to be honest. They're both nice names, and totally different names, too. Maybe keep them both in your back pocket and decide which name suits him better when you meet him.

I prefer Liam to Anthony, myself.

[kayrinne.livejournal.com]

i vote for anthony!

[joereaves.livejournal.com]

Depending on your surname I think Anthony Paul flows better than Liam Paul, but I second the suggestion for William Paul. Liam's hardly exotic though. Actually my main problem with it, personally, would be I think it's pretty common right now.

[http://users.livejournal.com/___heyvanity/]

I like Anthony over Liam currently because Liam is really, REALLY popular/trendy.

I think William with the nn Liam would be a really nice compromise. William Paul sounds really nice too. Liam Paul sounds kind of choppy.

[elemmennope.livejournal.com]

Liam. I just don't like Anthony. I've never met a smart guy named Anthony. In my mind it's a dumb jock, or stoner kind of guy.

[brujaoscura.livejournal.com]

*chuckles* Tell that to my buddy Anthony- he has 3 doctorates to his name and working on #4. He's so brilliant he scares me.

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

lol, my husband is an Anthony, and he's really damn smart. He's currently working as a biomedical engineer.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lyra_b/]

I wanted to name our son Liam, but then my husband is from Ireland and so it doesn't seem 'exotic' to us. According to the government website that tracks names, Liam was the 30th most popular boys' name in the US last year. I'm guessing Buffy had something to do with that. :)

I think a lot depends on the ethnicity of the baby's last name. If you have an irish surname, Liam doesn't sound so unusual.

(P.S. We named our son Conor - my husband won the toss - lol).

Good luck!

[ginevra-alessa.livejournal.com]

liam!

[lissalynn.livejournal.com]

I like both, but prefer Liam because I don't like the nn "Tony" for Anthony, and inevitably some people will choose to call him that.

[canarium.livejournal.com]

Liam :)

[how-obscure.livejournal.com]

If you're in the US, you may want to show your husband this site: http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ It clearly shows Liam isn't at all exotic. It is the Social Security Administration's site so it is pretty darn official. As someone mentioned, Liam is currently ranked 30th in boy's name popularity. This is based off of 2010 births. In 2009, it was ranked 49th so it jumped up 19 places in a year. I predict it will continue to rise. Also, William is ranked 5th and some of them probably go by Liam as well.

Anthony is currently ranked 10th. Now, I don't know how you feel about popularity, but some people don't like the idea of their child being Anthony K. or Liam H. in school. So that is something you may want to think about.

As far as the names themselves, I have never liked the name Anthony. Liam is nice, although I prefer it as a nickname for William. I want to say go with Liam Paul, but it is a little on the choppy side. Anthony Paul sounds better. But that is just based on them. It all really depends on the last name.

Anyway, just some food for thought. :)

[ealexsism.livejournal.com]

I like your hubby's taste: Anthony is one of my favorite names, and Paul is great too!

Liam... blegh too trendy.

[loverofhistory.livejournal.com]

Lol. Liam is a family name so it doesn't seem trendy to me.

[ealexsism.livejournal.com]

I know how it can be. Jack is a family name for us, and we really wanted to use it, but of course now it's super trendy too! Such a bummer...

[snoglobel.livejournal.com]

I have the same issue with Jack. It's my (92 yr old) grandpa's name, and I really, really wanted to use it. Stupid popularity!

To the OP: I like Anthony better with Paul

[quentinwrites.livejournal.com]

Here in the UK, Liam is common as muck.

[neglovespie.livejournal.com]

I love both names, but if you're going by how it looks and sounds, I think that Anthony Paul works a bit better.

[artmess.livejournal.com]

You may consider naming your son Liam Anthony. I like both names and such combination sounds very nice to me, though i'm not from the english-speaking country.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

Liam. I've always thought that name is gorgeous.

[schexyschteve.livejournal.com]

I prefer Anthony to Liam. What about Anthony William Paul, and calling him Liam?

[rubberducky1467.livejournal.com]

I have two Liams in my first grade class. If you have your heart set on that name, go for it, but he will have other boys in his class with that name, guaranteed.

[so-there.livejournal.com]

I personally prefer Anthony. but you're right about Liam becoming more popular. maybe show him the social security site? http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/

in the past 30 years, Liam has gone from the 791st most popular name in the US to the 30th. so it's definitely getting up there. and that's only counting babies whose legal name is Liam--if you count the Williams that are called Liam, there are probably more.

[magikalcrab.livejournal.com]

I like Liam and agree that it's becoming pretty popular now.

Have you got a website for your local area (City/State etc) that records baby name popularity? Maybe show that to him?

Personally I've chosen my baby names and none of them appear on the top 100 boy or girl names anytime in the last 10 years - people in my state have a habit of naming their kids so that there are 3000 of the same name every year... NO THANKS.