Still debating the boys name. Suggestions/opinions/referrals please!

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

My husband and I are about to start TTC (next month, but maybe even this month) and while I am quite settled on my girl name, I keep flip-flopping between my boy names. It's not that I can't fall in love with a name, it's that I've fallen in love with so many. So I'm going to list the names that have topped my list, gotten crossed off, and then have made a return because I just can't decide for sure! I'm sure all of you reading can relate to that internal debate that never ends!

As the title said, opinions, suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Feel free to swap middle names around as well or substitute one with something you think is better. After you see my list and think you have a name I might love that's along these lines please share it! It's still a very creative process since I'm not "100%" on any one name yet. Double middle names aren't my usual tastes but I would consider them if it flows really really well. The last name is Gibbons.

Theodore Ambrose-nickname would be Teddy. I actually love Teddy while the proper Theodore is second fiddle to the nickname, but I think it would age well. I love how my 4 year says Teddy too, it's really clear and she doesn't struggle like most of the other names. I'm not sure if I will love this choice later on though since Teddy might only be good on a young kid and not so much grown up. I don't like the other nicknames at all.

Gabriel Beauregard-This is a favorite for both myself and my husband, although he loves it more. This is his top choice actually. I do love how Beauregard flows with the whole name, but am always open to different suggestions. There isn't a downside to this name, I'm just not sure I love it as much as I love others.

Ambrose-I <3 LOVE <3 this name but my husband doesn't. He doesn't veto it, but said it depends on the middle name. The only middle name he's liked so far is Theodore, but I don't think it flows so well. So I need a different middle name.  Plus I don't know if I should be selfish and go with a name my husband doesn't love. He doesn't overly care about names, but it's something I do try to consider.  (He named his Skyrim character UMM, because he's that unconcerned with names to give you an idea....he's NO help at all!)

Rafe Hollis-Last year I was certain if I had another boy I would use this name. I still love it, but like Ambrose it may not be the one. I wonder if this is going to be a new trendy name like Aidan got after I used it. (Ralph Fiennes is pronounced the same way, but I don't like how his is spelled Ralph but pronounced Rafe.) I don't see anybody really suggest it on these internet forums though so perhaps I am wrong!!

Grayson Fitzpatrick- Love Grayson, and I think Fitzpatrick would flow well with it. I think this name has a romantic, old-fashioned feel to it. This is another one that worries me though, because I am seeing it everywhere online. I'm not concerned with popular, but trendy does bother me. I want something that ages well too!


Some of the names I worry about if they would be ridiculed or picked on. They aren't all the most macho of names, but they are boy names. I am also trying to weigh in how they look with just the first and last name since that's how they'll be known mostly. So Teddy Gibbons, Gabriel Gibbons, Ambrose Gibbons, Rafe Gibbons, Grayson Gibbons.

Aidan Mackenzie, Ava Dulcea, Remy Forrester and Mia Isobel are the names I've already used.

Remy was my son who passed away from SIDS. I'd like to honor him without it being creepy, but I haven't thought of a way. It's not absolutely vital, but it would be a nice gesture if it worked out that way.

Comments

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I tried to post a comment but LiveJournal is being ridiculously slow and the comment didn't go through so I am just going to go through each name and break down my thoughts for you and add some more suggestions at the end.

Theodore Ambrose- I like the combination. His initials would be T.A.G., which I find off-putting, but if it's not a big deal to you then it's a solid name.

Gabriel Beauregard- I love the name Gabriel but Beauregard is over-the-top to me. Perhaps this is because I am from Atlanta, but I cannot even think the name Beauregard without a Gone with the Wind-esque gaudy southern accent.

Ambrose- I think it is a perfectly nice name, but if I am reading correctly, you have two other children with A-names, and I don't think that's fair to Mia.

Rafe Hollis- Rafe is too close to rape for me. I can just see him at some loud high school party and a cute girl asking his name and hearing incorrectly and then... well, you get the point. I don't care for the name Ralph (pronounced either ralf or rafe), either, just for the record. Hollis I dislike for personal reasons (I know an obnoxious family with that surname) so I will abstain from critique there.

Grayson Fitzpatrick- My favorite of all of your combinations.

Now, as far as honoring Remy, I think the only way to do it in a classy and not creepy way would be to use his initials. For example, Rafe Fitzpatrick. However, I have already elaborated my feelings on Rafe so if there is another R-name that you like, such as Robert or Roger, I would go with one of those. I actually find Robert Fitzpatrick Gibbons to be quite a striking name.

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

Hahaha you did the strike through on the names. I saw that and thought I had screwed up posting it!!! Took me a second.

I do like the idea of the initials, I hadn't thought of that. I won't use Robert (though Robert FItzpatrick is visually striking as you said) despite being my FIL's name, my eldest son's biological father had that name and it forever tainted the name for me. I will start looking at "R" names and see if I find a combination that I love.

I have actually never watched Gone with the Wind so I didn't consider that, although I was aware it had a strong southern influence. I love the flow of it, but I can always swap out middle names. I like Gabriel Ambrose as well, and honestly I'm two seconds away from not caring that his initials would be GAG because it would be combining my husbands favorite and mine.

You do raise good points about Rafe and another A name, which I will take under advisement. Hollis is one of those names I love, but I also realize I'm never going to be able to use them all. I would only use it as a middle name though.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I can definitely understand your hesitation on using Robert, in this case. Some R-names that I think might fit your style (I was just going with the first two R-names that popped into my head before because I was pissed off at having to retype all my comments):
Rafael/Raphael (his nickname could be Rafe)
Randall
Raoul
Riordan
Rhys
Reynold (you seem to like surnames as first names)
Roderick
Roland

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

Lol it's really funny because I looked through the R's and the only one I really liked at all was Rafael. And I don't really favor surnames as first names, so don't worry about that! I can see where Grayson could make you think that though. :)

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

I kind of figured as much. At least with Rafael, you get a bit more versatility on nicknames. The tennis player Rafael Nadal goes by "Rafa," an acquaintance's brother goes by "Rafi," and personally I like Rafe much more as a nickname.

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I actually really like Theodore. If you name him that and find that you don't like Teddy in a few years, Theodore is a perfectly good name to use on it's own. Then again, I'm not much of a nickname fan.

I love the name Gabriel, it's one of my favorites actually. Beauregard just reminds me of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory though haha.

Ambrose is nice but I too agree with the whole everyone else except Mia get A-names thing. I'm the only one out of my siblings who doesn't have an S and it's annoyed me quite a bit even though I like my name.


I'm not a fan of Rafe at all and Grayson is so trendy these days, I keep seeing it everywhere :\
And I just have to mention, ever since I read this book series a few years ago where the MC was called Fitz on a regular basis, because it was slang for bastard or something (he was the Prince's bastard son) ((I might be mistaken, it's been years)) , I can't take names beginning with Fitz seriously :\ I mean, they're nice and all that but I just keep thinking back to the book and how it means what in means there... haha

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

See, my only problem with Grayson is that I too see it everywhere these days, and I wonder if it's just another trendy name or it will age into a classic.

Theodore is the ONLY name on my list that would go by a nickname, because like you I don't love nicknames as a general rule. Ava, Mia, Remy, Aidan are names that don't have nicknames, but Teddy is so cute I can't help myself. I'd just use Teddy honestly but I do worry about how names will age. I actually like Theodore too, but I hate the idea of Ted or Theo. Ugh. That being said it's still currently a top contender with Gabriel.

I do not get the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory reference to Beauregard. Are we talking book or movie, because I can't remember the book it's been so long and I don't recall the name in (either) movie.

Hahaha, that's a funny story about Fitz. Didn't know that. Mind you it doesn't effect how I feel about the name since I didn't read it, but I'm still glad you told me.

Mia and Remy both didn't have A names. It was a theme for me where everybody had to have A names, I just find that I'm drawn to them. And if I have a girl her name will be Elsa so no A there either. But I do see your point, since Remy is gone and if I used Ambrose there would be 3 to 1 in the house. I'll probably get Ambrose as a middle name likely. ;)

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

I'm probably WAY off but I have this memory of Violet being named Violet Beauregard in the last movie haha. Hence why it reminds me of it. I have a feeling I'm wrong though, but for some reason it's nailed into my brain.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

Beauregarde is her last name, in both the books and the movies. Sorry, that was one of my favorite books as a kid.

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

OMG THAT'S RIGHT!!!! Ahahahahahaha. I was trying to think of someone who had that FIRST name. Beauregard as a surname didn't occur to me at all. No wonder that other comment thought I prefer surnames. =)

[box-of-rocks.livejournal.com]

Forrester, Hollis, MacKenzie, Fitzpatrick, Grayson, and Beauregard all sound like surnames/could be surnames to me!

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

Heh! I read names out of a book and I always perceive that as first names you know? They never really occur to me that they are also surnames. I can see the Fitzpatrick or Grayson and even Mackenzie as being "sons of" names and hence surnames, but Hollis, Forrester and Beauregard (even with the Willy Wonka reference) I just can't see as anything but first names personally.

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

the MC was called Fitz on a regular basis, because it was slang for bastard or something (he was the Prince's bastard son)

Fitz means "son." Fitzpatrick means "son of Patrick." Fitzroy means "son of Roy" or "son of the king," which is the last name sometimes given to kings' bastards (King Henry VIII famously had a bastard son by a mistress named Bessie Blount and the kid was called Henry Fitzroy). But she's not considering Fitzroy and the "Fitz" name is a middle name, so it shouldn't be a big deal.

[duckduckcaboose.livejournal.com]

Thanks for saving me the trouble of typing this out! You said almost exactly what I was going to say (same with the Violet Beauregard comment, we must have similar literary tastes).

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

oh, yeah I know that, I was just saying how for me that's all I can think about haha. It's not a bad thing, I just thought it was a fun story :)

[tortallian.livejournal.com]

The Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb?

[smallandneedy.livejournal.com]

Indeed! :)

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

How about Theodore Jeremy Gibbons, you get both Teddy and Remy?

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

I think Jeremy is a neat solution as well, but I likely wouldn't pair it with Theodore, or at least not in that order. I'm going to give some though to this name, as well as to the R.F. initial suggestion I got also. Thank you for the idea!! :)

[piperwest12.livejournal.com]

Your welcome

[hermione-vader.livejournal.com]

Theodore Ambrose: My favorite of these combinations. You could use Teddy exclusively while he's little, and then start calling him Ted, Theo, Theodore out in public when he's around school-age and still use Teddy at home. Or he may always be Teddy, like Teddy Kennedy (who was also Ted, I think).

Gabriel Beauregard: I love Gabriel, but Beauregard is too much for me. I'm a Midwesterner, but I hear that name in a parody-ish Southern accent, too (I do like the name Beau, though).

Ambrose: Not really my style as a name, maybe because it doesn't have an easy nickname.

Rafe Hollis: I don't think anyone is using Rafe a lot these days. Not my thing, either, but I'd paired Rafe with a more traditional middle name. I don't know about this one.

Grayson Fitzpatrick: My second favorite combination here. Grayson may be a bit trendy right now, but I think it would age well (like Clayton or Carter or Donovan or Parker). And I love the sound of Fitzpatrick (and I'm a Tudor England history geek, and Edward VI had a very close friend named Barnaby Fitzpatrick, which just sounds cool). Grayson Fitzpatrick sounds a bit like an action hero, in a good way.

Could you possibly use Remy as an alternate middle name, like Theodore Remy, Ambrose Remy, or Gabriel Remy? I remember a couple on an episode Oprah had lost their three children in a car accident, and then conceived triplets, so they used the first three kids' names as the triplets' middle names, which I thought was sweet.

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

I'm pretty much giving up Beauregard as the middle name, crossed off Rafe entirely, and Ambrose will only be a middle name.

Theodore Ambrose, Grayson Fitzpatrick, and Gabriel Ambrose (I'm so over the initials, nobody will use them anyway). So we've shaved the list, and improved Gabriel for me!!

[ladydreamfire.livejournal.com]

I may be able to use it as a middle name! I didn't see this at first! I like all of those combinations. Hmmm.....Ambrose Remy could be an awesome choice. The reason I was going to not use it as a first name was the middle name problem. But maybe with this it could be possible. I'll have to run it by my husband, although I think he would prefer a different first name with it. Gabriel Remy Gibbons is also a great choice! Thank you!!!! <3

That is a very sad story, but I also think how they honor their lost children in that way is very touching.

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

I think Grayson Fitzpatrick matches the other sibling name the best. It is popular like the other names but it flows well.

[box-of-rocks.livejournal.com]

I like Theodore, Gabriel, and Grayson, but I think those might be getting trendier. Theodore and Gabriel are classics, though - even if there's another Gabe in the class it's not like it's going to be really dated in 20 years or something.

I *hate* rafe because it looks way too similar to "rape" for me.

Ambrose is unusual and interesting, but slightly feminine to me - I think it'd have to go with a pretty masculine name for me to be a big fan.

[my-little-voice.livejournal.com]

Theodore Ambrose is my favorite. I like both names separately, but didn't realize how great they'd be together.