Help Us Decide!

BumpasaurusRex

DH and I are torn between two names for our second son due in February:

Benjamin
Alexander

DS1 is James.

We are likely going with John as a MN.  Also open to other suggestions!

achays11

Benjamin would be my choice out of those two. 

KyleeWaller

My first thought: I think both "Alexander" and "Benjamin" are going to be given NN's among family and in school. 

That being said, Alexander would be my choice, and I would immediately begin calling him Alex as a NN (because I like Alex better, but would want to give him the option of Alexander later in life). I also like the NN Al. I don't care for the NN Xander, but it is another option. While I think "Benjamin" is a solid name, and "Ben" is a fine NN, I really dislike "Benny," and I think it might be unavoidable. 

BumpasaurusRex

@kyleewaller I agree with your point on NNs.  I don't like Benny at all and Xander isn't bad, it's just NMS.

KyleeWaller

@BumpasaurusRex yeah! I can't put my finger on why I wouldn't use Xander myself, but I wouldn't mind if my son was Alexander and someone called him that. It's a weird gray area NN for me, I guess. 

Bringmemylongswordho

I like both, Ben slightly more .  

AlyLynn07

I like both too. I prefer the nn Ben over Alex or Xander, so Benjamin is my pick!

babymama619

Thinking of Alex over here too. Fwiw it's been at #8 for decades so it's pretty popular. I also like Benjamin and considered Bennett for nn of Ben.

mill1020

With James, I like Benjamin better.  Would have pushed harder for it for one of our sons, but it happens to sound weird with our last name.

Wishilivedinflorida

I love Alexander myself, but my DH vetoed it as FN, and it will probably be our boy MN. 

I know a lot of Benjamins and I've never heard one called Benny. I can't imagine that becoming problematic if they go by Ben. 

Both are solid classic names. You can't go wrong. 

lm45678

I slightly prefer Benjamin but with mn John I prefer Alexander because of the potential nn BJ.

I also like all of the nn options- AJ, Alex, Lex, Xander that Alexander has.

Honestly though, you can't go wrong with either

4N6s

I like Benjamin with John more than Alexander. 

SnarkasaurusRex

Are you me? My DS is James and we were STRONGLY considering Benjamin John if this one was a boy, haha. Obviously, I think you have great taste in names.

DH has a thing for monosyllabic names, so he preferred Ben as a nn, while I was leaning more toward Benji. I don't think I've ever known a Benjamin IRL that went by the nn Benny, so you could probably nip that in the bud pretty easily.

Gingermom15

I think Benjamin John sounds nice, but then his first two initials would be BJ. If that isn't a deal breaker for you, then I don't see an issue. 

Alexander John sounds very nice, as well. However, I think Benjamin flows a little better with James 

onebadmotha

Both are great, strong names (we actually considered both for our DS and this current little one), but I would pick Benjamin. Love the nicknames Ben or Benji. 

LoveLee85

Alexander hands down. 

MWoodside

I was going to say Benjamin, but not with the initials BJ. So if the MN will be john, the I pick Alexander.

BumpasaurusRex

Thanks everyone for the feedback!  I honestly never put the initials together until you mentioned it and it's thrown DH off a bit.

RedRadiance

I prefer Alexander! Mostly because I like the NN Alex much more than Ben.

thatcma

I like the way Alexander John sounds more then Benjamin John

FreshBakedBrownies

Alexander John sounds great! Alexander would be on our maybe list, but my son has too many friends named Alex.