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Help me name my child


Seventh Pup

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So my husband and I are expecting a little boy this July. I am thrilled! But boy names are hard. If it had been a girl we had a name all picked out Isadora. But now that it's a boy we are back to square one. The name right now that is the closest thing we have to a front runner is Ivan. (Which I love, but my husband isn't completely sold on). Anyway I am wondering what the board suggests. What are your favorite boy names? What is your honest (even if it's negative but stated in a respectful way) opinion of Ivan?



Help?!




ETA



Back in July I had my son, the baby who I started this thread for. (We did name him Ivan by the way) However since then it has become a general naming thread, which is awesome, but changed the title to reflect that!


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This is what we did.



each make a list of names we like (make sure they go with the surname!)



swap, and get rid of names on each other's list we just cant live with.



we wanted two names so we then made a list of each pairing



by this time some names are starting to stand out, then its just a process of elimination.


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I think Ivan is acceptable too. Personally I do, and always have, leaned toward 'traditional' names... and I want to name my kids after people I know. If I ever have boys, for example, I want them to be one of - John (after me), Robert (after my dad and his dad), Jack (maternal grandfather), Daniel (my closest male relative outside my dad), Sam (a cousin of mine, has a great heart, deserves a namesake), Mike, Tom (both same boat as Sam), etc. Those names mean something to me because I know good men who have them, and I'd like to select from that pool. Plus I think in a world where there are a lot of Aiden's and Layton's, etc, perhaps a traditional name wouldn't be so horribly common when any kid of mine hits kindergarten.


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A couple of thoughts here. Say the name out loud together with your last name. Think about potential nicknames. Think about potential namesakes - I am reminded of the character in the prologue of AFFC, Pate the pig boy. I also remember a colleague from years ago, Judy Moss, who said they made a vow not to name their son Peter.



I like traditional names, like Paul and James. I like names that conjure up a country, the way Ivan does (being of eastern European background, I know a few), or something Irish like Aiden and Sean (=John=Ivan). And I like Richard, and have known great guys nicknamed Rick, Richy and Dick. :)



Oh, and if he will be receiving middle names, watch out for the initials. He might not want to be known as, say, S.O.B.


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The only reason I would hesitate with Ivan right now is since it is Slavic name and there are the problems going on with Russia and Ukraine right now.



Granted, we named our daughter Fianna and (UK and Irishers correct me if I'm wrong) Fianna Fail is a pro-Gaelic political party in Ireland. We didn't realize it until after she was several years old. But I've realized that parents need to consider long term effects of names. For example, I know several kids named Kobe after Kobe Bryant and went to high school with a kid named Arsenio.

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I think if you both like the name (or can convince daddy to like it) then go for it. Me and my hubby have very different opinions on names and the more boys we had the harder it got to compromise but I think we managed ok.

I like the idea of doing lists (we just did mental lists but physical may work better for some people) Our first two boys we took in turns of naming but the other had to agree and our last two we spent months debating!!

Good luck it can be very frustrating when you don't both LOVE the same name as one another.

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Ivan is fine as long as combined with the child's surname it will not sound like it makes a humorous sentence starting with "I've an ....". It fits with the "two syllables ending in -n" pattern which is popular in the USA and I don't think a boy with this name will have unusual problems with it. I have friends who have an 11 year old son named Ivan and he does just fine with it here in Omaha.



I think a lot of modern parents need to remember that there is no such thing as the "perfect" name. Any name will have positive associations for some people and negative for others.


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