A while ago, I did a this or that name game on here using girl names from last year’s top 100 for England vs Wales, so I thought we could do the boys’ round this week. As always, feel free to comment on your choices as shortly or extensively as you wish, or just list them, or share feedback on your favourite/least favourite names, whatever you want really, it’s just for fun, after all. Just like the first time, in each pair, the first name is from the top 100 for England, the second for Wales. If a name ranks at the same spot in both countries, I take a name from the same spot in Scotland, in which case I write (SC) after it. If the name ranks on the same spot in Scotland as well, I just skip it. We also have a situation where Dylan ranks in the UK on the same spot as Alexander in Wales and vice versa, so in that case I paired each of them with the corresponding name in Scotland. Here’s the list
- Noah or Jack (SC)?
- George or Oliver?
- Oliver or Arthur?
- Muhammad or Theo?
- Arthur or Leo?
- Leo or Charlie?
- Harry or Archie?
- Oscar or George?
- Henry or Jack?
- Theodore or Oscar?
- Archie or Finley?
- Freddie or Brodie (SC)?
- Jack or Tommy?
- Charlie or Jacob?
- Theo or Alfie?
- Alfie or Harry?
- Jacob or Osian?
- Thomas or Roman?
- Finley or Elijah?
- Arlo or Theodore?
- William or Thomas?
- Lucas or William?
- Roman or Arlo?
- Isaac or Henry?
- Teddy or Luca?
- Tommy or Albie?
- Alexander or Dylan?
- Edward or Harrison?
- James or Elis?
- Luca or Isaac?
- Joshua or Lucas?
- Albie or Harri?
- Mohammed or Mason?
- Max or Jaxon?
- Elijah or Hunter?
- Reuben or Ollie (SC)?
- Sebastian or Rowan?
- Jude or Louie?
- Mason or Teddy?
- Rory or Tomos?
- Louie or Logan?
- Benjamin or Ezra?
- Ethan or Hudson?
- Adam or Max?
- Hugo or Jac?
- Joseph or Ronnie?
- Reggie or Ollie?
- Ronnie or Rory?
- Louis or Sebastian?
- Harrison or Macsen?
- Ezra or Reggie?
- Jason or Caleb?
- Logan or Finn?
- Daniel or James?
- Zachary or Jesse?
- Samuel or Zachary?
- Albert or Oakley?
- Dylan or Carter (SC)?
- Alexander or Carter (SC)?
- Hudson or Benjamin?
- Frederick or Joseph?
- Hunter or Myles?
- David or Ethan?
- Frankie or Louis?
- Jesse or Blake?
- Toby or Hugo?
- Rowan or Joshua?
- Grayson or Edward?
- Oakley or Sonny?
- Felix or Toby?
- Riley or Carter?
- Carter or Ellis?
- Bobby or Evan?
- Finn or Brody?
- Alfred or Grayson?
- Michael or Samuel?
- Blake or Elias?
- Gabriel or Jude?
- Jasper or Eli?
- Mohammad or Frankie?
- Sonny or Jax?
- Stanley or Ioan?
- Otis or Muhammad
- Caleb or Riley?
- Milo or Cai?
- Ralph or Idris?
- Liam or Tobias?
- Chester or Tomi?
- Elliot or Daniel?
- Ellis or Morgan?
- Yusuf or Jackson?
- Charles or Parker?
- Rupert or Chester?
- Kai or Gabriel?
- Harvey or Gruffydd?
- Brody or Hari?
- Nathan or Joey?
- Jackson or Rhys?
- Leon or David?
- Ibrahim or Elliott?
- Tobias or Mohammed?
Bibiel’s picks:
- Noah or Jack (SC)? Duh! The Scots know what’s TRULY good.
- George or Oliver? Definitely Oliver, it might be very popular almost everywhere but I quite like it nonetheless, and definitely more than George.
- Oliver or Arthur? Oliver again.
- Muhammad or Theo? Theo.
- Arthur or Leo? Hm, it’s a bit tough, because Arthur feels better than Leo in terms of like its etymology, history, vibe and all that, but then sound-wise I much prefer Leo… Well Leo.
- Leo or Charlie? Charlie.
- Harry or Archie? Hm, Archie I guess, though I’m rather neutral about both.
- Oscar or George? Oscar definitely.
- Henry or Jack? JACK!
- Theodore or Oscar? Oscar again.
- Archie or Finley? Absolutely Finley!
- Freddie or Brodie (SC)? Hm, don’t care about either… Freddie I suppose?
- Jack or Tommy? JACK! 😀
- Charlie or Jacob? Jacob, especially that in Wales it’s pronounced as JAH-cob at least sometimes.
- Theo or Alfie? Theo.
- Alfie or Harry? Hm, Alfie?
- Jacob or Osian? That’s tough as I like both a lot… Well Jacob, I think.
- Thomas or Roman? I don’t like both, but Roman feels extremely dated in Polish and not quite as classy as it seems to be viewed in the UK. Thomas is at least rather universal and I quite like Tommy, so Thomas.
- Finley or Elijah? Elijah.
- Arlo or Theodore? Hm I don’t really like either much. Theodore I guess is a bit better and more in line with my overall style.
- William or Thomas? Definitely William, I like it and even though it’s just as common as Thomas if not more in the overall population, it feels a lot less bland to me and it has lots of adorable nicknames.
- Lucas or William? Here it’s going to be Lucas, because Lucas has more character than William.
- Roman or Arlo? Hm Arlo this time lol.
- Isaac or Henry? Isaac.
- Teddy or Luca? Luca, Teddy is so childish.
- Tommy or Albie? Tommy.
- Alexander or Dylan? Definitely Alexander.
- Edward or Harrison? Harrison.
- James or Elis? Elis is a lot more interesting, and both Welsh and Swedish at the same time and I like such coincidences, though it has different etymology in both of these languages.
- Luca or Isaac? Luca.
- Joshua or Lucas? Lucas, don’t like Joshua, I know it isn’t really seen like that by most people but to me naming a kid Joshua would feel like naming them Jesus. 😀
- Albie or Harri? Harri.
- Mohammed or Mason? Huh, Mohammed I suppose? I don’t really feel either at all.
- Max or Jaxon? Jaxon, but really why do people spell it with an X?
- Elijah or Hunter? Elijah.
- Reuben or Ollie (SC)? Ollie definitely.
- Sebastian or Rowan? Rowan. Sebastian doesn’t have the best connotations in Poland, again very contrary to the UK and the Anglosphere where it seems to be like the ultimate historical romance hero name or something from what I know. 😀
- Jude or Louie? Louie.
- Mason or Teddy? Ugh Teddy I guess.
- Rory or Tomos? Rory, although I prefer the original Scottish spelling Ruairidh because Rory looks like it’s supposed to be a nickname of something.
- Louie or Logan? Hm, I don’t mind both at all, but then don’t particularly like them either… Let’s say Logan.
- Benjamin or Ezra? Benjamin, although I dislike the nickname Ben and it feels rather inevitable here haha.
- Ethan or Hudson? Hudson, really not a fan of Ethan.
- Adam or Max? Max, Adam’s so boring, I mean it even means human. 😀
- Hugo or Jac? Jac!!!
- Joseph or Ronnie? Ronnie, ‘cause I don’t like Joseph and ‘cause Ronnie actually isn’t too bad.
- Reggie or Ollie? Ollie.
- Ronnie or Rory? Rory.
- Louis or Sebastian? Louis.
- Harrison or Macsen? Macsen of course.
- Ezra or Reggie? Reggie.
- Jaxon or Caleb? Caleb.
- Logan or Finn? Definitely Finn. I like Finn names. 😀
- Daniel or James? Daniel is less boring than James, but then I much prefer the nicknames of James to those of Daniel. Still, we’re talking full names so Daniel.
- Zachary or Jesse? I think Zachary but these two have a very similar vibe to me.
- Samuel or Zachary? Samuel, I really like it actually.
- Albert or Oakley? Hmmmmm… Mmmmmmm… Lol I totally can’t make up my mind. Albert, I guess, again because it makes more sense with my style overall than Oakley would.
- Dylan or Carter (SC)? Dylan for sure.
- Alexander or Carter (SC)? Alexander, even more assuredly. 😀
- Hudson or Benjamin? Benjamin.
- Frederick or Joseph? Frederick is less boring I guess.
- Hunter or Myles? Myles I think, I’d be even more sure if it was Miles.
- David or Ethan? David.
- Frankie or Louis? Louis.
- Jesse or Blake? Jesse.
- Toby or Hugo? Toby.
- Rowan or Joshua? Rowan.
- Grayson or Edward? Edward.
- Oakley or Sonny? Oakley, I’m far from liking it but why’d you call a kid Sonny, really? 😀
- Felix or Toby? Felix is really cool.
- Riley or Carter? Riley.
- Carter or Ellis? Ellis.
- Bobby or Evan? Bobby.
- Finn or Brody? Finn.
- Alfred or Grayson? Grayson.
- Michael or Samuel? Well that’s actually a difficult choice because I like both in a very similar way. But Samuel is less common overall, so Samuel.
- Blake or Elias? Elias, though I think I’ve already mentioned somewhere that I don’t like the “-EYE-“ pronunciation and prefer the Scandinavian way (eh-LEE-as). But then it’s Wales so I think it’s possible that some people actually do pronounce it like that because it would make sense in Welsh too. Question is though if it’s actually popular with Welsh speakers. Btw, Brits do rankings based on mother’s age so I think it would be also a great idea if they did based on mother’s first language, that could be really interesting.
- Gabriel or Jude? Gabriel definitely.
- Jasper or Eli? Eli, though Jasper is really really cool too.
- Mohammad or Frankie? I guess Frankie feels closer to me culturally though neither is my style at all.
- Sonny or Jax? Jax, out of two evils. 😀
- Stanley or Ioan? Ioan.
- Otis or Muhammad? Otis, I guess.
- Caleb or Riley? Hm, Ca… no, actually, Riley. 😀
- Milo or Cai? Milo.
- Ralph or Idris? Idris is cool.
- Liam or Tobias? Liam definitely.
- Chester or Tomi? Tomi.
- Elliot or Daniel? Elliot.
- Ellis or Morgan? I think I slightly prefer Ellis, though Morgan is cool too for a boy. In fact, I guess the only reason why I didn’t choose Morgan is because realistically a British Morgan would probably have their gender mixed up a lot, as I don’t think it’s tied to one gender as strongly as in the US where it seems to be quite decidedly a girl name. Then again, we’re talking about Morgan in Wales here, and I guess in Wales it’s more clearly a boy’s name. Still, I think I’ll stick with Ellis.
- Yusuf or Jackson? Jackson definitely, I’d call him Jack anyway.
- Charles or Parker? Charles for sure.
- Rupert or Chester? Hm, Rupert.
- Kai or Gabriel? Gabriel.
- Harvey or Gruffydd? Totally Gruffydd. Oh and by the way, in case people don’t know it’s pronounced kinda sorta like Griffith, it’s got nothing to do with being gruff. 😀
- Brody or Hari? Hari.
- Nathan or Joey? Hm Joey? Don’t care about either.
- Jackson or Rhys? Hah, Rhys, I think. If it was Jack vs Rhys I’d say Jack but I think I do like Rhys more than Jackson.
- Leon or David? David I guess.
- Ibrahim or Elliott? Elliott.
- Tobias or Mohammed? Tobias.
So, how about you, lovely people?
My Inner MishMash 
Oh boy, fun with names!!
Noah or Jack (SC)? Jack is a favorite of mine! But I like Noah too! It’s a toss-up!
George or Oliver? I’ll go with Oliver, but it’s a close call! I like George as much!
Oliver or Arthur? Oh, definitely Oliver. It’s so much prettier than Arthur.
Muhammad or Theo? Theo is cute! For sure!
Arthur or Leo? I’d prefer Leo!
Leo or Charlie? It’s another close call! The marginal win goes to Charlie!
Harry or Archie? Ohhh, neither. Harry’s boring and gross in that it makes me think of being hairy, and Archie is too formal yet playboy-ish, ya know? No.
Oscar or George? Close call, but I’ll choose George!
Henry or Jack? Jack, but I do love Henry too! Close call!
Theodore or Oscar? I think Oscar! I do prefer Theo, but as the full name Theodore, I prefer Oscar.
Archie or Finley? Oh my, neither!
Freddie or Brodie (SC)? I do love Fred, actually! Fred wins here! I like Freddie too!
Jack or Tommy? Jack, hands down, no contest.
Charlie or Jacob? Charlie. Jacob has an overused feel to it.
Theo or Alfie? Theo. Alfie seems an unkind name for a boy! 😮
Alfie or Harry? Oh my, neither! 😮
Jacob or Osian? Jacob, but I don’t really care for either! 😮
Thomas or Roman? Roman, but I’m not a huge fan. Thomas, though, is way too dull and overused. A strong pass to Thomas!
Finley or Elijah? Finley, I guess, but I don’t care for either!
Arlo or Theodore? If we can return to the nickname Theo, I’ll pick it! Otherwise, it’s a tie!
William or Thomas? I’ll pick William, because one thing I like about this otherwise overused name is the nickname Will. I do like Will. I think it’s pretty. I don’t see anything redeeming about Thomas and I have no clue why parents name their kids Thomas! 😮
Lucas or William? Interestingly, Lucas is one of those overused YA hero names. Like, the crush object, the mysterious boy who wants to help protect the heroine from the crazed killer, is going to be named Lucas in every book. Anyway, I’ll choose Will again!
Roman or Arlo? Eh… Roman, but I’m not too keen on either!
Isaac or Henry? Henry! I do sort of like Henry.
Teddy or Luca? Ohhh, I love Teddy! I never realized it until now, but it’s a favorite!
Tommy or Albie? Neither!
Alexander or Dylan? I’ll go for Alexander, because it has fun nicknames of Al, Alex, or Xander.
Edward or Harrison? Edward, but I’m not into either!
James or Elis? Neither!
Luca or Isaac? Neither!
Joshua or Lucas? Oh my gosh, I hate-hate-hate Joshua! It has connotations of having low intelligence, ya know? And then Lucas is the hero name again… I’ll have to choose neither! 😀
Albie or Harri? Neither! They’re both new to me!
Mohammed or Mason? Mason is another of those hero names in YA! I do like Mason a little, though, so I’ll choose it! Here’ the whole list, by the way, of YA heroes: Lucas, Mason, Damien, Sebastian, etc. I’ll try to remember some others. Dylan!
Max or Jaxon? I do like Max! Never heard of Jaxon, and it doesn’t seem like a name! (HA HA HA! Emilia’s been making up names again! 😛 Totally kidding.)
Elijah or Hunter? Neither! Elijah doesn’t speak to me, and Hunter seems more like a word!
Reuben or Ollie (SC)? I do like Ollie!
Sebastian or Rowan? Neither!
Jude or Louie? You know, Jude is cute! 😮
Mason or Teddy? Teddy! But I do also like Mason.
Rory or Tomos? Neither!
Louie or Logan? Neither! Louie is too… I’m not sure. And Logan automatically makes me recall The Baby-Sitters Club and Mary Anne’s BF, Logan Bruno. He was from Louisville, Kentucky, where he lived on a horse farm (as so many of us do… NOT), and he couldn’t speak straight English due to his southern accent (which so many of us have… NOT). Unable to say Mary Anne, he called his girlfriend Myree Eye-un. [Facepalm.] Epic fail, Ann M. Martin. Epic fail.
Benjamin or Ezra? You know, I do sort of like Benjamin. And I like Benji, Benny, and Ben. I’ll choose that one!
Ethan or Hudson? Ohhhh, I’m slightly not into either. Hmm.
Adam or Max? Max! Adam’s too boring!
Hugo or Jac? Well, they’re both rather French. Hmm…. Hugo, I guess!
Joseph or Ronnie? I don’t like either, but I do like Joe, so I’ll pick Joseph!
Reggie or Ollie? Ollie! A cute name!
Ronnie or Rory? Ohh, neither!
Louis or Sebastian? Neither!
Harrison or Macsen? No and no!
Ezra or Reggie? No and no!
Jason or Caleb? Interesting, as they’re so similar. Jason is way overused. I’ll go with Caleb, although I’m not a huge fan.
Logan or Finn? Finn, for sure! Not a bad name.
Daniel or James? Daniel. They’re both overused, but I like the nicknames of Danny and Dan. It’s a nice name. James is more overused to the point of total redundancy. I mean, at least give your kid a name that can be theirs.
Zachary or Jesse? I like Zach, so I’ll choose it! I’m not huge on Zachary, though!
Samuel or Zachary? That’s a dead tie. I like Sam and Sammy.
Albert or Oakley? Neither, but Oak is okay!
Dylan or Carter (SC)? About Dylan–did I put that on my list? Okay, I just added it. Neither name!
Alexander or Carter (SC)? I’ll choose Alexander again for its nicknames! Carter, ugh! Who does that to an innocent newborn?
Hudson or Benjamin? Benjamin, whose nicknames I prefer to Hudson!
Frederick or Joseph? Very close tie, because I love Fred and Joe.
Hunter or Myles? Neither!
David or Ethan? Neither! Boring City!
Frankie or Louis? I do like Frank! Not Frankie for a boy, but Frank is cool! I’ll choose it!
Jesse or Blake? Neither!
Toby or Hugo? Aww, both adorable! I think Toby’s the cutest!
Rowan or Joshua? Neither!
Grayson or Edward? Grayson, but I don’t like Grayson. I do, however, LOVE the idea of Gray! So I’ll choose it!
Oakley or Sonny? I’ll choose Oakley for the nickname Oak!
Felix or Toby? Toby! Very cutes!
Riley or Carter? Riley, but I’m not into either!
Carter or Ellis? Ellis, but I’m not into either!
Bobby or Evan? Evan’s okay!
Finn or Brody? Finn is cute!
Alfred or Grayson? Well, it’s a tie between the respective nicknames of Fred and Gray!
Michael or Samuel? Samuel, but they’re both overused!
Blake or Elias? Blake, I think?
Gabriel or Jude? Jude is really cute. Gabriel sounds too angelic.
Jasper or Eli? Neither!
Mohammad or Frankie? Neither, unless we can use Frank!
Sonny or Jax? Neither! Sonny is a horrible name! I’ve never heard Jax. Huh.
Stanley or Ioan? Neither! Stanley is boring and I’ve never heard Ioan!
Otis or Muhammad? Otis, but I’m not into either!
Caleb or Riley? Riley, but it’s close, and I don’t prefer either very much!
Milo or Cai? Milo is cute! Sounds more like a puppy dog, though!
Ralph or Idris? Oh, you know, I do like Ralph.
Liam or Tobias? Tobias, if we can go by Toby!
Chester or Tomi? Chester is cute!
Elliot or Daniel? Elliot! Close call!
Ellis or Morgan? Ellis, as Morgan is ugly and too masculine for my tastes.
Yusuf or Jackson? Neither, unless we can go by Jack!
Charles or Parker? Charles! Parker sounds more like a word.
Rupert or Chester? Chester is cute!
Kai or Gabriel? Hmm… Kai!
Harvey or Gruffydd? Neither! Harvey’s boring, and the other one’s too weird!
Brody or Hari? Brody!
Nathan or Joey? Joey is cute! Nathan’s too boring and has connotations of no intelligence and/or no personality at all!
Jackson or Rhys? Neither, but I do like Jack!
Leon or David? Neither! I do like Leo, but I don’t like Leon. Huh.
Ibrahim or Elliott? Elliott!
Tobias or Mohammed? Neither, but I do like Toby!
************
Well, that was wild! I realized how much I love Teddy!! I also realized I love colors for a boy’s name! Gray is darling. Blue would also rock. (I saw that in a book once.) Or you could go Grey with the spelling. Green might be cute, but it’s too much like a last name. For girls, Violet is a fun color name. Or Magenta, although no one’s ever done that one. Lavender? Huh. This has been fun!
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Thinking about both your picks and mine makes me realise yet again how, in general, there are fewer exciting names for boys than there are for girls and that so many on this list are just meh, boring, bland or neutral compared with the girls round I did before, and while for girls it was sometimes difficult to pick a favourite for me because I liked both, here it’s more often to be difficult to pick one because we don’t like either, haha.
I totally agree that Harry is rather boring, and the American pronunciation does indeed make it even worse, which makes sense why it’s less popular in the US.
Jacob definitely does have an overused feel in America these days.
Alfie seems more fit as a cat name than a boy name to me for some reason, so I sort of agree with you.
Agree about Thomas being incredibly dull as well. Like I said, Tommy is decent, but Thomas and Tom are incredibly bland to me.
Theo is better than Theodore indeed.
I do really like Will as well. And even Bill.
Hahahaha so true about Lucas. 😀 And yeah, Mason too. Totally!
Alexander really has loads of cool nicknames, that’s one reason why I like it too, but it’s just as great on its own imo as well.
Lol it’s not Emilia that’s been making up names, it’s the Brits. 😀 But seriously, I’m kind of surprised that you’ve never heard of Jaxon because I see it a lot more frequently on American rather than British babies, and that includes Jaxxon and Jaxson as well! It seems a very trendy name for babies, but then that probably depends on a particular state as well. I’d never have created an atrocity like that because it’s a blasphemy against Jack. 😀
Omg Myree Eye-un, that’s horrific! :O
I’ve seen Jac as alternate French spelling of Jacques indeed, but in Wales they pronounce Jac just like Jack, I really like that spelling.
Ollie really is cute. 🙂
Agree about Milo sounding kind of like a puppy haha.
I also like Leo but not Leon. Well, to be precise I don’t even like Leo very much, but it feels fresher than Leon, ’cause the latter is extremely old-fashioned to me.
I like Blue too, but I think I’d only use it for a middle. In fact I like Blue for a girl too. And Bluebell. Green could sort of work as a middle too, but then there are a lot of names from other languages that mean green and I think I’d rather opt for that rather than Green as such.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all if there were people named Magenta, will have to look it up. Could go by Maggie or Jenny lol.
I do actually really really like Lavender, makes me think of Lavender Lewis from Anne of Green Gables.
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HA HA HA! A lot of your commentary made me laugh out loud! 😀
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• NOAH or Jack (SC)?
• George or OLIVER?
• Oliver or ARTHUR?
• MUHAMMAD or Theo?
• ARTHUR or Leo?
• LEO or Charlie?
• Harry or ARCHIE?
• OSCAR or George?
• HENRY or Jack?
• THEODORE or Oscar?
• Archie or FINLEY?
• Freddie or BRODIE (SC)?
• JACK or Tommy?
• Charlie or JACOB?
• Theo or ALFIE?
• Alfie or HARRY?
• Jacob or OSIAN?
• Thomas or ROMAN?
• FINLEY or Elijah?
• ARLO or Theodore?
• WILLIAM or Thomas?
• Lucas or WILLIAM?
• Roman or ARLO?
• ISAAC or Henry?
• Teddy or LUCA?
• Tommy or ALBIE?
• ALEXANDER or Dylan?
• EDWARD or Harrison?
• James or ELIS?
• Luca or ISAAC?
• Joshua or LUCAS?
• Albie or HARRI?
• MOHAMMED or Mason?
• Max or JAXON?
• ELIJAH or Hunter?
• Reuben or OLLIE (SC)?
• Sebastian or ROWAN?
• JUDE or Louie?
• Mason or TEDDY?
• RORY or Tomos?
• LOUIE or Logan?
• Benjamin or EZRA?
• Ethan or HUDSON?
• Adam or MAX?
• Hugo or JAC?
• JOSEPH or Ronnie?
• REGGIE or Ollie?
• Ronnie or RORY?
• LOUIS or Sebastian?
• Harrison or MACSEN?
• Ezra or REGGIE?
• JASON or Caleb?
• Logan or FINN?
• DANIEL or James?
• Zachary or JESSE?
• SAMUEL or Zachary?
• Albert or OAKLEY?
• Dylan or CARTER (SC)?
• Alexander or CARTER (SC)?
• Hudson or BENJAMIN?
• FREDERICK or Joseph?
• Hunter or MYLES?
• David or ETHAN?
• Frankie or LOUIS?
• JESSE or Blake?
• Toby or HUGO?
• ROWAN or Joshua?
• GRAYSON or Edward?
• OAKLEY or Sonny?
• Felix or TOBY?
• RILEY or Carter?
• Carter or ELLIS?
• BOBBY or Evan?
• FINN or Brody?
• Alfred or GRAYSON?
• MICHAEL or Samuel?
• Blake or ELIAS?
• GABRIEL or Jude?
• JASPER or Eli?
• MOHAMMAD or Frankie?
• Sonny or JAX?
• Stanley or IOAN?
• Otis or MUHAMMAD
• CALEB or Riley?
• Milo or CAI?
• Ralph or IDRIS?
• LIAM or Tobias?
• Chester or TOMI?
• ELLIOT or Daniel?
• Ellis or MORGAN?
• YUSUF or Jackson?
• Charles or PARKER?
• Rupert or CHESTER?
• Kai or GABRIEL?
• Harvey or GRUFFYDD?
• BRODY or Hari?
• Nathan or JOEY?
• Jackson or RHYS?
• LEON or David?
• IBRAHIM or Elliott?
• Tobias or MOHAMMED?
Fortunately I went into Transformations and made the preferred name upper-case.
I may make the non-preferred name lower-case in future lists of this kind.
Cai and Idris seem really good for brothers/a sibling set.
And the Brod- names are great.
Roman *is* a bit old-fashioned especially when you think of the famous one – Polanski [Roman Rajmund] – and then there is Romauld.
[and when I was a Bright Young Thing I read about a Roman W – whose English name would be Laurence/Lawrence]
Logan, Logan, Logan. Well – that gentleman had a lot of allergies – like another character – Boris/Morris in FREAKY FRIDAY – and that affected his speech.
Speaking of rankings – it might be another idea to do them by occupation and/or occupational class.
Carter – there are two names I disprefer compared to that name and I didn’t go for Carter for the other 2 – so I feel fairly equivocal.
When I think of occupational names – I think of COOPER and of TAYLOR/TAILOR. And there is no such name as WELDER even though there are WILDERS especially in the USA and Canada.
I do enjoy the Jackson/Jaxon vibe.
And also “lion” names like Leo and Leon [yes, over David].
Gruffydd seems very charismatic.
And Gabriel is just so musical.
Osian is really special and shiny.
There was a really cool person called Archibald who wrote about Harry Potter and J. K. Rowling and bigotry.
I can see the Yeshua-Joshua-Jesus connection.
Alexander/Dylan was a hard pick.
Riley and Ellis are great as names in their rights and lights.
Even though Morgan was good in that name set [v. Ellis].
I was thinking Hari as short for Harry rather than Harikrishnan [or something subcontinental].
And Shane/Sean/Shaun are not on any list? Or even Shea/Shay? and Sion the granddaddy of them all.
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Good idea to make the preferred one either upper- or lower-case.
That’s a good point about Cai and Idris. I like Idris a lot more than Cai, but they’d make for a cool and very Welsh sibset nonetheless. They could even have a brother called Jac as well! And perhaps a sister called something like Mali or Seren or Ffion.
Romuald is also rather vintage, but for whatever reason I like it more than Roman. Perhaps it’s because it’s less common, and was more popular before Roman from what I know so perhaps it feels slightly fresher by now, or perhaps I’m just biased because that’s my great uncle’s name. It feels ever so slightly more sophisticated.
Doing popularity rankings by occupation/class could also give some interesting insights into the naming world, definitely. I’d like it if it was a thing.
Gruffydd has something charismatic about it indeed, that’s a good way to describe it. There was a Welsh ruler of that name (actually spelt the old way as Gruffudd) so perhaps it’s thanks to him.
Yes, Hari only featured in the top 100 on the Welsh side, and it is the Welsh variant of Henry and Harry, and so I think most Haris there would be named so because of that rather than because of Hari Krishna. Again first language rankings would be useful here though.
I’m not perfectly sure of that but I wouldn’t think the Sean names are particularly trendy in the UK nowadays for babies. I just had a quick look now and Sean is only #420-something, but it is in top 50 for Ireland. The Welsh Siôn is out of the top 1000, but then if we’d have a separate top 1000 for Wales I suppose he’d make it there.
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Your great-uncle is a Romauld? Wow!
[and I will remember to put the U before the A in the future – at least with the great-uncle when we talk about him].
Gruffydd now feels very spell-like – it would be the double letters which add to that effect.
Good to have the sisterly names added to that sibset.
So the elder way of Gruffydd is with the U?
And I barely resisted the temptation to chant “Hari Krishna” when I read your reply.
You will remember that the comments box only takes plain letters without extra hypertext markings.
I would go with Seren for the sibset and Ffion for a different set of siblings.
Did you catch the “i” pair with Cai/Idris?
Thanks for the continuation of the Siôn thread.
And just how far it has fallen.
I do now think of Sean as a 60s/70s name.
Jason and Jesse would go together and possibly with Mali.
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I think with Romuald the “u” is always before the “a”, at least in Polish it definitely is, as it’s pronounced raw-MOO-ahld, so it’t not just my great uncle’s spelling. I kind of like how Romauld looks though haha.
Yeah there is something about those double letters in Welsh indeed, even though of course they’re there for a more substantial reason than just make it feel charismatic, because single “f” is read as “v” in Welsh, whereas double “f” is read as “f”, and double “d” is read as “th” in “the”. And yeah, it used to be spelled with “u” instead of “y” because it doesn’t really change pronunciation much given how the “u” is pronounced in Welsh.
Oh, I do know you can’t do hypertext in the comments, why’d you mention that? :O Did something I wrote look like it was supposed to be hypertext?
Aaah! No, I didn’t catch the “I” thing originally. I was just thinking in terms of style. That’s a real fun idea and would be particularly cool for multiples, making them kind of match but not too glaringly like so many multiples do. In this case, we could have Nia in there instead of Ffion. And then Angharad for a girl or Arwel for a boy or something if it’d be quadruplets haha.
I totally see Jason and Jesse as brother names. Mali would be nice here, but it wouldn’t be very realistic I guess because it’s so quintessentially Welsh and I don’t think the same people who choose Jason and Jesse for their sons would be up to choosing Mali for a daughter, even if they were Welsh. I’d see something like Julia or Jasmine here. Perhaps Jocelyn if they’d be brave enough.
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