Help us name our boy

MamaSquishyB · July 2016

I've been posting way too frequently on the baby name board, so I thought I'd present this to a fresh set of eyes. We're expecting DS2 and can't decide on a name. DS1 is Levi, and if this had been a girl, she would've been Paige. We need a name that's familiar and easy to pronounce, but not top 20. DH is from Nigeria, which means we have a very difficult last name, but it also means that his family will have trouble pronouncing most names we choose. We've narrowed it down to Nathan (which would be pronounced like Natan by his family) or Spencer (which would be pronounced more like Spensah). Middle name is not negotiable and will be Obinna ("oh-BEE-nah", which means "the father's heart"), and last name sounds like "own-yih-MAH-doo". So, which would you choose? Or do you have any other suggestions that would sound better with middle and last names?

mhilpisch10 · July 2016

My husband is Nathan so I'm biased.

Flowr4246 · July 2016

Nathan is one of my all time favorite boy names, so it automatically got my vote. I also think that the Natan pronunciation will be cute.

Sarafuss · July 2016

Both names flow/sound fine together but I picked Nathan because I've always loved that name. It's my cousin's name though so I can't use it! I'm not sure if you also like the nickname Nate but it sounds like your DH's family would pronounce that correctly. Not sure if that influences your choice at all.

KimmySchmidt · July 2016

To me, the flow between nationalities of the first and last name matter. I have an Italian last name and have chosen Italian first names just because of that. You have an obvious disparity here, which is fine. Not everyone shares that priority. But I think barring a name that matches, you really can't go wrong with the bible. That's why I picked Nathan. (Ok, so don't name your kid Lucifer. But for the MOST part biblical names go with just about anything.)

ruemcclanahan · July 2016

I said both out loud quite a few times and Nathan sounded the best

ssimon621 · July 2016

I chose Nathan. My cousin just had a baby boy on 6/28, her Dad is from Nigeria and they named the baby Jaxon. Her dad had a bit of trouble with the middle sound so I think the S in the middle of Spencer would be tricky for them.

MamaSquishyB · July 2016

KimmySchmidt said:

To me, the flow between nationalities of the first and last name matter. I have an Italian last name and have chosen Italian first names just because of that. You have an obvious disparity here, which is fine. Not everyone shares that priority. But I think barring a name that matches, you really can't go wrong with the bible. That's why I picked Nathan. (Ok, so don't name your kid Lucifer. But for the MOST part biblical names go with just about anything.)

I agree with that, but Igbo names (DH's native language) are almost always very long and difficult to pronounce. For example, my FIL's first name is Ajuluchukwu! Other common boy names are like Afamefuna and Chukwuemeka. While the names are beautiful and have lovely meaning behind them, I don't want my child to have to go through life having his name misspelled and mispronounced. If he had come from a country with more familiar names, we totally would have gone that route. But we both agreed that using an American name would be best in the first name spot to honor my heritage, and that we would use middle and last name spots to honor DH's heritage.

Themaritimemama · July 2016

Love Nathan, and I think it flows the best with your middle name choice, and last name

KimmySchmidt · July 2016

@MamaSquishyB TOTALLY get it!

Im such a practically-minded person when it comes to these things myself. Names have to pass the "when you hear it, you can spell it. When you read it, you can say it." test!

eightynine · July 2016

Nathan is fine, but I can't stand the nick name Nate. For that reason I pick Spencer (also, it's cute)

Jillybear82 · July 2016

I totally understand how you feel. My husband is Indian, and we wanted a name that was Indian, but easy for Americans to pronounce, and like you, we had settled on a girls name, but had not settled on a boy's name when we found out we were having a boy. We ended up deciding on Ravi.

pizzaandwine · July 2016

I voted for Nathan - I really like it and don't care for Spencer. I taught twins names Arjun and Kanal (Ka-NAHL)...in case you wanted some ideas of Indian names that people can pronounce.

jensou · July 2016

I voted for Spencer. It has a nice flow overall. do you like the nickname Spence? I love it!!!

We're going with a Western first name and Chinese middle name because it is easier. And we also struggled with first names that my husbands parents could pronounce easily. We don't know what her middle name will be, as FIL will choose it after she's born.

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