Congrats to you!

Well, you could go the Abelard and Heloise route and name him Astrolabe (sorry, references the story of a love affair in 12th century France. She named him so because its an instrument that measures distances between stars)

My favorite names tend to be traditional: David, Samuel, James, Christopher. In fact you could name him Christoper Robin Lastname if that isn't too cute for you.

I had an Uncle Launcelot....

I was always in love with the original - du Lac.....

Dido

I knew a very kind, well-mannered, intelligent, and attractive man years ago. His name was Rhett. And yes, everyone "got" the literary connection.
PAM

There is such a great body of English literature that any name is out there somewhere.
Unusual, too, is often linked to where you live. Currently, in my school, boys with a name considered unusual would be Thatcher, three Gages, a Lars, an Aris, an Emmanuel, a Sage, three Camerons in the same grade (who, to their parents' bemusement, got together and decided one would be CJ, one would be Cam, and one would be Cameron-this all came out at parent-teacher conferences-and just to jazz it up, there is a girl named Cameron in a different grade!), a Graham, a Victor, a Chase, a Cole, a Gerrit, and a Robin who goes by Rob, rather fiercely. I'm guessing that Lars would not be as unusual in Minnesota.

It is so much fun to consider names for a new baby!

I am very boring when it comes to boy's names. I love the old classics - John, James, Michael, Joseph, Thomas, Stephen, William, Robert. If I had a son (heh, not at my age) I would name him something that he won't hate me for later. (One of my friends has a three-and-a-half year who hates his name and expresses this to her constantly. To be honest, I don't blame him. It is unpronouncable and isn't even readily recognized as a name!)

I would also consider naming him after a relative, such as my own dear father or grandfather, both of them with a regular old name that I have mentioned above.

So, I haven't helped with the literary connection. What was Mr. Darcy's given name? (Joke!)

Last year we got a male kitten, which we named Kingsley. You've got two literary connections there - Kingsley Amis the author, and Kingsley Shacklebolt the auror!

One of my friends has a baby who goes to daycare with a kid called Espn (pronounced Es-Pen) after the TV network. Not that I am suggesting you do this or anything. Just thought it was strange.

What about Arthur? Holden? Philip (so you could call him Pip)?
Charles?

It seems to me that a baby name should come from children's literature, which is why I have a Benjamin (Bunny.) Of course now that he is nearly a middle-schooler, I can no longer use his *whole* name. I think George is ripe for a revival, but what man wants to be named after the monkey? Wonder if the names Ron, Harry, and Hermione have become more popular?

Sorry, naming a child for a TV station is just perverse.

Re the name Christopher Robin! Poor Christopher Robin Milne grew up to dislike his name, especially after being teased at school and wasn't too fond of having been dressed in a girly way with a too long (for the 1920's) hair cut and little smocks and knickers until he was about nine years old.
Not that you, kathe, will treat your baby in that way. Just get all the rest you can . . .you will be pretty busy for the next twenty years or so. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Christopher Robin

As our family has had a number of new babies recently, this topic is of great interest to me. I feel very strongly that the child's feelings should be considered first and foremost. Why inflict something overly cute, curious or just plain weird on a child so their school days can be miserable?

I too vote for the classic names of Western civilization. If someone's background is elsewhere, they can choose an easily pronounceable name from their culture or a name from the country where they have chosen to live permanently.

The "strange and unusual" factor is definitely worse for girls than boys, for some reason. One study I read with interest noted that women named Katherine or Elizabeth, for instance, achieve success at a much higher rate than "creative" names. Whatever, I hope the child who will have to live with the name is considered more important than the parents' wish to be "different".

Too different names can be bad, but I hate being a Rebecca.....EVERYone is named Rebecca, it seems. I do have a literary name, though - after Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.

My mother always wanted a boy that she would name Jaxom after a character in Anne McCaffrey's Dragonrider series.

veer, I read C Robin Milne's memoirs a few years back. Really sad; but I also thought him a rather bitter man.

Its not literary, but when I used to watch Dark Shadows, I so wanted a boy I could name Quentin.

If it would be euphonious with your last name, I suggest St. John (pronounced sinjin). He was Jane Eyre's suitor, in the Bronte novel.

If you choose an offbeat first name, give the child a quite staid middle name that comes with numerous diminuitives, so that he has options. If he decides to run for political office, say, or is nominated to be on the Supreme Court, St. John Alexander Johnson might prefer to be known as Senator Alex Johnson. Or, if he should grow up to be the lead singer in a hair metal band, he could be Lex.

Brenda

Brenda

Girls may do better in the long run with traditional names, but in elementary school, boys with "creative" names are much more likely to be made fun of. I still remember a student named "Crue" after the Motley Crue band. He was constantly picked on.

When we were naming our daughter, we were advised to try our choice following the words "Supreme Court Justice" to be sure it wouldn't be too cutesy when she grew up. I would advise any parent of a son to do the same thing.
re: St. John-I like it, but I am afraid that he will spend his life correcting everyone's pronunciation of his name. Starting in kindergarten. And he'd be nicknamed "Saint" or "Sinner" in a week.

cindy - My former BIL played Gerard in Dark Shadows. :)

I was very interested in ginny's comment about the names Katherine and Elizabeth above. If I had a daughter, I would have named her one or both of those names, not because I like them so much, but because they have many possible diminutives and variations, and they will look equally nice embroidered on a frilly pillow or on a business card.

Are we helping at all with choosing a name?

Siobhan, yes, yes, all of the suggestions and discussion are helpful...keep 'em coming, and thank you! My three year old son offers a handful of sweet and wacky suggestions every day, so the fresh perspective is much appreciated.

There was an article in today's NY Times article about kids' names; below is the link, if anyone is interested.

Here is a link that might be useful: NY Times--A Boy Named Sue

Hee, I just came here to post the same article: GMTA

Here is a link that might be useful: A boy names Sue and a theory on names

Maybe I shouldn't comment as I am from another culture and another language but I must fervently recommend a neutral name. Here in Sweden there is statistical evidence that boys with names like Ronny, Sonny, Conny and Johnny are overrepresentated in prisons. These are all names with a distinctly thrashy ring because they are so foreign and come from American films. Some survive their name, of course. A well-known Swedish professor called his memoir "My name is Ronny" and everyone understood what his background was and what he had gone through. I am sure there are US names similarly tainted. The same with names of actors or football players like Kevin and Glenn. One of my friends is too embarassed even to mention the names of her eldest grandchildren, Prim and Neo. Their parents are both engineers and these names are probably screemingly funny in engineering and computer game circles. Poor kids, I hope they have second or third names they can use when they grow up.

The present trend here is to take the names common in the greatgrandparents' generation and the 10 most common names for boys now are William, Lucas, Elias, Oscar, Hugo, Viktor, Filip, Erik, Emil and Isak. I like them all except William, only because it's an English name and I know that it will not be correctly pronounced by most people.

My husband wanted to name our first born "Atticus". I vetoed it (thought it might shorten to sound like "addict"). But I did suggest "Finch" and we ended up with "Oliver".
Other choices we've always considered: Finn, Holden,Duncan, Charles...we too have a plain, English-sounding, last name.
Good luck!
Jo (mom to Oliver, Spencer, Phoebe and Patrick)

See, this supports my regional point-we have a Duncan at my school, but it is not considered one of the "unusual" names-it's a common local name. It all depends on where you are.

In my family we have Ronald, George, Michael, Zachary, Joshua, and Nicholas whose middle name is Duncan, which was my mother's maiden name. We have a couple of less traditional ones, too. I agree with old, real names, e.g., Charles, William, Thomas.

I once heard a young mother in a shop call out to her children, "Dakota! Cody!" One was a boy and one a girl, and I wasn't sure which name belonged to which child.

Two people I know have honored my favorite author and book with their children's names!
The boy's parents named him Atticus.
The girl's parents named her Harper.
I love that.

In the mall the other day, my daughter, her friend, and I heard a young mother call out to toddler, "Come back here Felix!" Both the girls and I started to giggle, all immediately thinking about Felix the cat. Point being--you'll never satisfy everyone with a name since someone will always have an odd assocation with what you choose. On the other hand, some names are bound to cause raised eyebrows.

The most unusual name in my extended family is baby boy cousin Cael, pronounced like the leafy green. I like the name once I got used to it. Most of us have very traditional names except for me--Lori--which I think puts me squarely at the tail end of the baby boom. All Loris are roughly my age!

for my generation it seems like Debbie was really popular. I once asked my mom why she named me such a common name and she said, "well, it wasn't common when you were born."

Like, bookmom/Lori says, someone will always have an association with any name.

I've heard Conor/Connor a lot recently for a boy & read also that girls names are going back to the olden days more & more for names like Emma, Emily, Katherine, Grace, Chloe. Good luck & congrats on the new baby!

The names of the boys in my classroom the past few years have included: Connor, David, Christian, Jayden, Josh, Jason, Brandon, Edward (went by EJ for Edward Jr).

Speaking of popular names: there was a span of a couple of years where just about every boy in my class was a Josh or Jason, and every girl was a Jennifer, Emma (with variations), or Jessica. Now its funny, those same girls are showing up as young teacher aids: Ive had a Jessica and a Jennifer, and now have a Caitlyn which was also popular at that time.

In my area Caleb is getting to be excessively popular for baby boys. When they run the birth announcements it sometimes looks like a copyedit mistake.

Brenda