Hi Swistle!
My husband and I would love your help and advice in choosing a name for our first baby, a boy, due at the end of April.
We both agree we’d like two middle names, one of them being a family middle name of his, John. Our surname rhymes with Hadleigh.
His favourite name is Lennox William John, and mine is Leo Alexander John. Other names we’ve considered are Flynn, Baxter, Louie and Cohen, and James as an alternative middle name (I prefer James to John but my husband wants to keep the tradition of using John).
We really prefer either Lennox or Leo to the other names we’ve considered but both have positives and negatives.
Lennox – we like Lenny for short but cannot stand Len. Also wondered if this name is a bit too feminine?
Leo – worried this is now too popular but like that it cannot be shortened any further.
We plan to have at least one more baby in future, and I feel that Leo would suit other names better than Lennox, but I do like the Lennox is slightly more original.
So we’re stuck and cannot choose between the two! Any advice around using either of those two or other names you suggest greatly appreciated.
Thank you in advance!
The Social Security Administration reports than in 2013 the name Leo was used for 9 girls and 3,473 boys. The name Lennox was used for 153 girls and 351 boys. So the name Leo is about ten times as common as the name Lennox, and the name Lennox is currently a unisex name used more often for boys.
I generally advise parents not to use a name if they hate the nickname. It can be possible to avoid a nickname if everyone involved wants to avoid it, but of course the child himself might decide to use it—particularly if you call him Lenny when he’s younger.
The name Leo is more popular than Lennox, but is still not what I’d consider off-puttingly popular: as of 2013, it wasn’t yet in the Top 100 (though I wouldn’t be surprised to see it there when the 2014 data comes out in a few weeks). I’d suggest looking up the popularity of the other names you might consider for a future child and seeing if their popularity is more like that of Lennox, or more like that of Leo.
Looking at the other names you mention, I think Lennox goes better with the style of Baxter and Cohen, and Leo goes better with the style of Louie; I think both names go well with the style of Flynn. I’m also going to link here to an earlier post we did on the name Cohen, in the hopes of avoiding revisiting the issue in this comments section: Baby Naming Issue: Cohen.
My own vote would go to Leo. It would be nice if the deal could be sweetened by letting your husband have his preferred middle names: he’s already getting his way with the name John, so if he could have William too, that would give the name-selection a nice balance.
If you decide Leo is just too popular for you to want to use it, perhaps Cleo would work for a possible future girl.
I might also suggest Milo and Hugo and Nico, if you haven’t already considered them. All are less common than Leo: Milo was at #314 in 2013, Hugo was at #438, and Nico was at #484.
I’d also suggest Felix (#296).
Or Cole (#114).
Or Malcolm (#444).
Or Brooks (#301).
Or Lawson (#511).
Or Clark (#456).
Name update!
Hi Swistle,
Well our wee boy is nearly 4 months old and I have been meaning to write in and thank you for your input and let you know the name we chose after you and your readers gave us some great advice to consider. It was Leo vs Lennox with 2 middles names, one being John – a family name of my husband’s. About half of your readers who commented said go with Leo and the other half with Lennox, so we read further into why they suggested what they did.
A few people came up with the potential sing-songy “lee” sounds of Leo with the surname Hadleigh – a good point which we hadn’t actually considered. And then there was the thought of nicknames for Lennox, some of which we weren’t entirely happy with. In the end we saw past the sing-songy “lee” sounds and decided on the sweet and simple Leo.
Your other suggestions for names were great; in fact Felix was also on our list but I forgot to mention that in my original post.
As per your advice, I let my husband choose the middle name as Leo was my favorite option. He came up with Hunter which was not on our list and not my favorite name but I’ve come around and quite like it now. So we have a Leo Hunter John and he suits his name just perfectly :-)
Thank you and your readers again for your help!
I would go Leo over Lennox, especially if you really hate the nickname Len. Plus, I really, really like the name Leo. Yes it’s more popular but even so I’ve only met one baby Leo, and he’s technically a Leonardo.
Congratulations and good luck!
Hmm, does your surname actually end in the -leigh sound? If so, I’d sadly let go of Leo. It will be a bit sing-songly with two LEE sounds repeated in only 4 syllables. I do love the name Leo though and I think it has more likelihood of stability/non-trendiness than Lennox. And it is nowhere near Jacob or Liam megapopularity (nor do I think it will reach those heights).
What about Leonard, Lionel, or Leopold, nn Leo, so he can have a full form in the sing-songiness ends up bothering him?
Good luck!
All of that said, I still think you should pick Leo if the other option is Lennox!
I’m with Kaela–Lennox Hadleigh is more pleasing to my ear than Leo Hadleigh, and I really like Lennox as a first name!
Both Leo and Lennox are great names but I think I prefer Lennox in this case, especially with your surname.
I like the combo of Lennox Alexander John the most.
You could always use the nicknames Lex or Nox if you are worried about Len.
All the best!
I 100% vote for Leo but have to admit to a strong bias. I have an adorable 6 month old Leo that has totally melted my heart. I love his name and have been very happy with it. It took my husband awhile to come around but since he picked the final name for our firstborn (Jude) it was my turn to get the final say.
My husband’s only requirement for picking the boy’s names was that they not have obvious nicknames. He grew up with a nickname that he hated and it took him more than 30 years to shake it. For that reason I would also discourage you from using a name that has a nickname you don’t like.
I’d go with Lennox. I feel like most people aren’t going to nicknames unless the parents do. And I love how uncommon yet recognizable it is. I think it’s one of those unisex names that are cute for a spunky girl, but come off manly on a boy. Leo, in comparison seems softer for some reason.
Hello. Not sure about Leo with your actual surname, but aside from that, it seems to match better with your middle name choices, style-wise. Best of luck with your decision!
I much prefer Leo, although I don’t dislike Lennox. I don’t have a problem with Leo Hadleigh, since the emphasis isn’t on the “leigh” in the last name.
I perfer Leo but do have concerns with the Leo and your last name so I would go with Lennox. I would also avoid the nickname Lenny as that is easily shorted to Len. I do like the suggestion of using Lex as a nickname.
I like Lennox better, both in general and with the surname. I also think nicknames are less inevitable in this generation than in previous ones.
I don’t have strong feelings on Leo/Lennox (mainly what others have said… Careful for Leo with your surname, Len seems like a legit concern), but wanted to chime in since our tastes seem similar!
I love the name Leo, but we have a Cleo in the family, so it got nixed. We landed on Cyrus, with Hugo and Calvin on the short list.
My husband’s name is Koan (from Zen Buddhism, meaning paradox), which I have suggested in comments a few times as an alternative to Cohen/Coen. We pronounce it the same, though there is occasionally some confusion.
Best naming wishes!
I like Leo better because it seems more timeless to me than Lennox. Plus it’s equally great for a baby boy or a grown man. I don’t think Leo H@dleigh sounds sing-songy, but that’s probably a matter of personal taste.
I do agree with Swistle that Baby Lenny might eventually decide he wants to be Len as a teenager, whether his parents like it or not. Leo avoids that whole issue. (As does insisting from day one that he is Lennox, no nickname.) Lex as a nickname for Lennox is kinda cute and would prevent future Len-ification, although people might confuse that with Alex, which is much more common. (And there is the obvious Lex Luthor supervillain association, of course.)
agreed about Lex Luthor .. that would knock out that nickname for me. but perhaps not everyone would think of that immediately? still nox is probably cooler (despite its possible confusion with knox. but i can’t think of any bad knox associations?)
Am I the only person who doesn’t see Leo Hadleigh as a problem?? I’m not one for cutesy or sing-songy type names but when I say it out loud it doesn’t bother me at all.
I would say ultimately go with what you both feel like you would love at the end of the day. Swistle posted some points about future sibling names that each would go better with. Perhaps that might be a way to decide between the two?? Which set of names do you like better??
I do prefer Leo personally but I also think that Lennox is spunky and fresh. I love the above suggestion of using Nox for a shortened name. Also, you could probably get away with using Lennox nn Leo?? All the letters are there. After all, James become Jims and Marys become Poppys?? That’s all weird to me. So if you wanted to get Leo out of Lennox, I don’t think that would be a massive stretch.
Congrats and keep us posted!
totally agree that L-E-O is just Lennox without the Ns and X. Not as natural, but with a quirky name like Lennox, I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to get the more common “Leo” from it! :)
I think I’d vote for Leo as the more soulful, time-honored choice. I think if your surname does end in leigh, the name is nicely book-ended with the sound on either end.
I’d also suggest Lowell as a similar name to Leo and Lennox, either without a nickname or you could use Wells.
Kelsey D- No you are not the only person who doesn’t see Leo Hadleigh as a problem. I’m having a hard time understanding why it would be an isssue. As long as they don’t rhyme it should work. And rhyming isn’t always bad either. My first name and surname from birth both end in -an and have two syllables. I don’t mind that at all, probably because the first parts are so different.
I also.prefer Leo personally.
Leo works fine with the surname to me.
Lex is a badass nickname. I like it.
But if it were me, I’d use Leo on a boy over Lennox
I’m not sure how you feel about non-obvious nicknames, but I feel that Leo could work as a nickname for Lennox. The sounds and letters are there, and it makes more sense than some traditional nicknames (eg John – Jack). That way your husband could call him Lennox and you could call him Leo.
Hehe.. you should read my comment above!! I pretty much said the exact same thing as you!
My thoughts exactly. Lennox -> Leno -> Leo. It’s a win-win.
I prefer Lennox. Leo is just so popular right now. I also love Brooks, Clark, Liam, Grant, and Elliott.
Len seems the logical progession from Lenny, so I would definitely go with Lex. Nox feels a bit contrived to me.
or skip it and go with Leo, which is really not all that popular (3K out of all the baby boys in the US is not a lot.) I don’t find the repeated sound to be a problem at all, in fact, I like it. The second one isn’t accented, after all.
Similar to other comments, I saw a birth announcement once for a Lennox who went by Leo.