Cassie writes:
I’m so excited to get your opinion because my husband and I cannot agree on anything. Our last name is Chapman, and our son’s due date is April 2. However, my first son was born almost 4 weeks early so we’re thinking it will be sometime in March. Our first son is Grey Toban. We love Grey’s name and knew early on this was the only contender. Toban is my father-in-law’s name, so this started the concept of using a family name for the middle name. So, the only thing we can agree on this time is that the new baby’s middle name will be Thomas after my father, ________ Thomas Chapman.
Both my husband and I like less common names, as we do not want our child to be in a class with four other children with the same name. However, my husband loves older names, names that remind me of old men. He also loves “Branch”, which I don’t even think is a name.
Here are his favorites.
Branch
Jimmy
Edmond
GordonI like quite a few more names, as I keep trying to come up with something that we both love, but he’s got his mind set that unless I go with one of the names above he’s just going to be settling.
Liam, was my number one choice early on, but I’ve decided this is way to popular.
Haden, was actually a name Tim came up with, and we both liked, but it’s kind of fizzeled.
Emerson, was the same situation as Haden
Julian (Tim and his family do not like.)
Max or MaxwellAfter reading a few of your blogs I really like the names Henry and Corbin. Tim seems to be thinking about both of these, as it takes him a bit to decide whether he really likes a name.
I would be so grateful if you could help us pick out a wonderful name for our second son! I don’t want this to be just a name we settle on when we both love our first son’s name so much.
Some names similar to Branch:
Branson
Bridger
Chance
Cranson
Lance
Rence
Ranger
Ridge
Vance
Vince
Similar to Edmond:
Desmond
Edgar
Edison
Redford
Redmond
Similar to Gordon:
Corbin
Cord
Ford
Heaton
Holden
Hudson
Jordan
Lorden
Oren
Porter
Riordan
Soren
Walter
Warren
And a few more:
Clark
Franklin
Frederick
Hugo
Karl
Lawrence
Louis
Lyle
Wade
Winston
With Grey, I particularly like Wade, Louis, Redford, Clark, and Vance.
I like Corbin Thomas. (A lot!) Corbin and Grey sounds good to my ear. I also like your husband’s suggestion of Edmond. And I love the name Julian myself, so there is that.
Shepherd works with Grey. Elliot, Luke, Thane, Eli.
Good luck!
If you thought of Haden, but now it’s not quite right, I wonder if you might like this name: Hagan.
Hagan Thomas Chapman. Grey and Hagan.
How about Basil, Cedar, Forrest, Sterling, or Royce?
I think that both Henry and Corbin would work well for you, and they both sound good with Grey. I also love Swistle’s suggestion of Holden; Holden Thomas; Grey and Holden.
How about: Allen, Calvin, or Landon?
Good luck!
I really love Clark. And I actually think Edmond/Edmund is a very handsome name and doesn’t sound old-mannish to me at all. I think of Edmund from the Narnia books. And such cute nicknames- Ed, Eddie, or Ed.
Maybe Pierce or Drake? I also like Clark. I think one-syllable names with a hard “k” go really nicely with Gray. Good luck!
I like the connection between the brothers´ names (Gray and Thomas> poet Thomas Gray :))
In the vein of poetry/literature, what about Gray and
Edgar
Bryant
Lewis
Flynn
Kipling
Ezra
Russell
Wyatt
back to nature:
Oren – it means Pine Tree in Hebrew.
Tinder
Drake
Reed
Talon
Kai – meaning Sea
Oh, Drake and Reed, very nice.
thalon?
I love Grey and Wade or Grey and Desmond!
Or Grey and Chase, Grey and Levi, Grey and Jette, Grey and Bowen, Grey and Bodie, Grey and Brady.
I don’t think of Edmund as being an old man name, I think its really lovely.
However, I do hope your hubby can agree to Corbin as I think this is even better and goes so well with Grey.
Oh, Ford sounds so great!! Grey & Ford.
Do you like Ruston?
Oscar?
Ellis? (Hmm… maybe not with the middle name of Thomas, though)
Roy?
Cale?
George?
Walt?
Best wishes as you pick the perfect name!
LOL @your Branch comment. Why are guys so weird about names?? My husband is dead set on “Kronus.” Or “Tigerbreath.” Lame.
I like the idea behind Branch, but I’m not sure about the real-life application. What about Birch (or the Scandanavian form, Birk), instead? Aspen? West or East names, like Westly or Easton? Leif (it sounds nature-y?)? Lark? My favourite is Locke, although it’s not an obvious nature name.
Coming back to clarify: what I meant by nicknames for Edmond were Ed, Eddie and NED. (Not Ed, twice, duh.)
Also, one of my favorite nature inspired names for a boy is Canyon. (I actually know a little Canyon and he’s super cute).
I like Edmund Thomas, if you don’t mind his initials (etc).
My favorite, though, would be Declan Thomas.
I love Edmund Thomas. Since it’s one of the names your husband likes, I’d grab it and not lot him squirm away from it.
(I also like Grey, it’s a traditional name in the piedmont of North Carolina, though really in the south surnames as names is common, due to the tradition of using the mother’s maiden name as a name for a child.).
Well, Barb, we laughed out loud at your double Ed, so also enjoyed your correction:) We love Grey also. Having just had a lot of trouble deciding a name–we spent every night with a list reading them, drawing lines through them only to re-add them the next night. I don’t think Branch is exactly a name, but then again, it is not offensive and kind of neat. Grey and Trey would be not a bad pair. I also really don’t like Jimmy – particularly with Thomas – and kind of think it would not be fair to give one kid a great name like Grey and the other one Jimmy!! Not that Jimmy is not an OK name and I have known a lot of good people named Jimmy. We used Carl as a first name (I know that is a favorite of Swistle, and that would also be nice with Grey and with Thomas. Carl means ‘king’ which we found out from the person we named him after. Good luck – we hope you decide and post it!
So funny! I named my son Grey after Zane Grey, the author.