Anonymous wrote:I actually like all of them and have friends who have used all of them! I think Rosie Pope in Heels did a focus group on one episode with all of these names for a couple!

I remember cringing at that episode. Didn't that couple want a "presidential" name for their child? All of these make me think of those stuffy Ivy League types wearing blazers to class everyday.

Sorry, they sound very snooty.

LOVE Brooks!

Anonymous wrote:Im NE Waspy too, and I like a few of these. Espcially if they are family names.

From your list I like
Penn (< love this actually!)
Brooks

I do not care for Parker/Tucker/Blake

Here are a few others you might like ( I know people with these names.... some I like some I don't care for but they are similar to your list)


Wythe
Brinton
Reed
Jeb
Hall
York
Winn
Bennett
Fletcher
Stewart
Ford
Garrison
Grier


Personally I will choose a classic first name and "Waspy" middle name and go by the middle name. At least after our first son since he is destined to be J_____ W_____ S_____ XII ugh not my choice I promise.

As someone whose parents did the "go by the middle name" thing, I'm begging you to reconsider this. I absolutely hate it. I've had two separate and annoying encounters just today involving the first name/middle name thing. It's a particularly big problem in any medical/insurance or travel-related situation, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. Please don't do it.

If you are NE waspy then by all means, stay true to it! Use a family surname, etc.

However, here are my thoughts on your list:

Parker -generally a girl name these days. pretty main stream
Blake -also fairly mainstream and sort of very -average-American-subdivision-suburbia. I think this one has lost it's WASPY quality.
Tucker -like it if it's a family name. Has yet to be taken over by mainstream America. Slightly "trying too hard" to sound rich/waspy/etc. Slightly.
Brooks -too waspy---to the point of being a caricature of waspiness. If there was a rich New Englander boarding school boy in a book, his name would be Brooks.
Bode -Neutral on this one and all I can think of is the skier so it doesn't speak wasp to me but I wouldn't use it---(skier Bode is sort of a loser aside from his skiing).
Penn --like it. It's waspy without being overly pretentious. It's not trying too hard.

Im NE Waspy too, and I like a few of these. Espcially if they are family names.

From your list I like
Penn (< love this actually!)
Brooks

I do not care for Parker/Tucker/Blake

Here are a few others you might like ( I know people with these names.... some I like some I don't care for but they are similar to your list)


Wythe
Brinton
Reed
Jeb
Hall
York
Winn
Bennett
Fletcher
Stewart
Ford
Garrison
Grier


Personally I will choose a classic first name and "Waspy" middle name and go by the middle name. At least after our first son since he is destined to be J_____ W_____ S_____ XII ugh not my choice I promise.

Anonymous wrote:Curious about thoughts on any of the following:

Parker
Blake
Tucker
Brooks
Bode
Penn
 

None of them are my taste, but I like the first three the most, and probably in the order you have them (Parker being my favorite of the three). The last three sound more like nicknames or last names to me.

I like Blake, but don't care for the others. If you still like them, though, I would go with one of the names that is a family name. If I met someone named Brooks, my first reaction would be that his parents were "trying too hard" (or maybe had named him after a character from a cheesy 80s movie or soap opera). On the other hand, if he were able to say, for example, "it was my great grandmother's maiden name," I actually would think it was kind of a cool name because it had some significance to his family. As someone with an unusual name, I can tell you that he will likely have many opportunities to share its origin.

I don't like Bode. The rest are just trite at this point. You say you are a NE WASP, so choose some traditional non surname family name and then give your son a WASPy nickname like Chip, or Skip or Trip or something.

So, so bad. So bad. Please don't forget that you're picking a person's name, not just a baby's name.

I actually like all of them and have friends who have used all of them! I think Rosie Pope in Heels did a focus group on one episode with all of these names for a couple!

I have a 8 month old Tucker! I don't really like Blake, it sounds kind-of wimpy to me for some reason. But it's all about what names you love, there will always be people who have something bad to say about it.

Ditto that they all sound pretentious. If you are a New England WASP and want to do something that's classy and evocative of your background but not pretentious, try Henry or Edward or William or John or Matthew.

Sounds like an 80s cheesy romance novel to me.

I also admire your perspective, OP. I actually like your name choices for the msot part. My favorites are Bode and Blake. I have a friend with a 2 year old named Bode and they get tons of compliments on the name!