Rate my top 5 name choices

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recommend choosing something more trendy or popular.

No.

I don’t want my kid to be Oliver P throughout school.

My name was #1 for 5 years in a row and I despised it.

A few of these names are top 100, so we aren’t going totally out there with names.

But we do not want something super popular or common for a reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Rowan is a girls' name.

Actually, it’s traditionally masculine but considered unisex.

[Anonymous]

Jasper! Have Prudence load the truck.

[Anonymous]

I actually like Caspian? Particularly because I like Cas for a nickname...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Theodore
the only one that seems like a real name

+1. They are all pretty bad.

[Anonymous]

Theodore and Jasper are nice.

The only Rowan I know is a girl.

Congratulations and best wishes!

[Anonymous]

Love Theodore but it is popular. Love jasper too. Alastair is a bit out there in the US but I like it.

Caspian is really bad imho. Rowan I just really do not like for either girls or boys. I think it sounds trendy and try hard, sorry.

[Anonymous]

These all sound like try hard names

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can rank (1-5) or rate (0-10) or whatever.

If it’s beyond personal taste, please comment. Is there a negative connotation I may have missed I would love to know about it.

Thank you!

Theodore - good name but you're late to the party. Based on your other choices you want something unusual and this ain't that
Alistair - goofy, wants to be pretentious, will be mispronounced
Caspian - not as bad as most on this list but sounds like an 18th century ship captain
Rowan - feminine, but not terrible
Jasper - I only know hayseeds with this name, seems like it tows against the current of the rest of your list

What about Tristan?

[Anonymous]

Theodore and Rowan are very nice.

Jasper is OK.

Alistar and Caspian will get their butts kicked in an American school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recommend choosing something more trendy or popular.

No.

I don’t want my kid to be Oliver P throughout school.

My name was #1 for 5 years in a row and I despised it.

A few of these names are top 100, so we aren’t going totally out there with names.

But we do not want something super popular or common for a reason.

This is extremely unlikely to happen since top names aren’t that saturated in the population. Oliver is one of the top names but that doesn’t mean there are going to be Olivers in every class in school or something. There are multiples of several names per grade in my kids’ school. None of the duplicated names are in the top 20 most popular name lists and 2 duplicate names aren’t even in the top 100. Oliver is 3rd most popular name in the country, but only 0.8% of boys are given this name. The #1 most popular boy name, Liam, still only 1% of males born are given that name. And anecdotally, I have 2 young kids and am around a lot of kids and I don’t know a single kid named Liam. And I only know 1 Olivia (the top girl name).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can rank (1-5) or rate (0-10) or whatever.

If it’s beyond personal taste, please comment. Is there a negative connotation I may have missed I would love to know about it.

Thank you!

Theodore - good name but you're late to the party. Based on your other choices you want something unusual and this ain't that
Alistair - goofy, wants to be pretentious, will be mispronounced
Caspian - not as bad as most on this list but sounds like an 18th century ship captain
Rowan - feminine, but not terrible
Jasper - I only know hayseeds with this name, seems like it tows against the current of the rest of your list

What about Tristan?

I like Tristan. If we’re suggesting names, I also like Tobias. Both of these seem to fit in with OP’s list (which I ranked earlier).

[Anonymous]

I like Theodore but it’s very common. We probably know more kid Theos than any other boy name right now.

I do not like jasper unless it’s a family name. Otherwise it seems too trying hard to be cool.

Alastair is nice but I wouldn’t name my kid that if they (and I) were American and kid was going to be raised in the u.s.

Caspian not good for a human. Good Cat name.

Rowan I like but I feel like a lot of people don’t in this thread and in real life…I’ve actually heard people talk about disliking this name on multiple occasions 😂

[Anonymous]

I think we have similar taste, OP. I like all these names! Here’s my ordering, most favorite at the top:

Jasper (Might have chosen it for my boy but my mother hates it lol)
Alistair (Love this!)
Caspian (Closely associated with Narnia for me but not in a bad way)
Rowan (I love giving boys gender neutral names.)
Theodore (I actually really like this name but your other options are so good AND more interesting. However I will note this is your most versatile choice regarding nicknames.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I recommend choosing something more trendy or popular.

No.

I don’t want my kid to be Oliver P throughout school.

My name was #1 for 5 years in a row and I despised it.

A few of these names are top 100, so we aren’t going totally out there with names.

But we do not want something super popular or common for a reason.

DP here. I get this. I also have a very popular name and I wanted to be careful not to give my kid a common name. So here's a few things I've learned.

First, don't use Theodore if you don't want a common name. You probably love it, and it's classic, and that's why it's on your list. But you WILL run into other Theodores, no question. It's a top 10 name. If "not too common" is a major issue for you, then just scratch this one off the list.

Alistair and Caspian are very uncommon names. Like VERY uncommon. Alistair in the 900s, Caspian in the 700s. You can find "hidden gems" in this part of the list, but I think these names are too "bespoke" and channel the fact that you don't want a common name. I would only use one of these names if you are very comfortable with it, if it just feels like "yup, that's got to be it." If you are going to go out on a limb a little bit with a name, stick to the safety of the top 200 or so, where the names are all reasonably recognizable, making it less likely that you will regret a name that you took a chance on.

That leaves you with Rowan and Jasper, which I think are the two strongest names on your list. Not common, but don't feel too out there either. My preference is Jasper, but that's such a personal choice. What vibe are you going for? What draws you to these names? I think I'd focus on that and maybe narrow down to those two names.