Opinions on baby name choices
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Opinions on baby name choices
| Wed, 07-05-2006 - 11:01am |
My husband and I are at a standstill in deciding on the name of our second little boy who will be born in a few months here. We had no trouble naming our first son (Evan Daniel - Evans is his mother's maiden name and Daniel is my father's name) and have narrowed it down to two possible choices. Hoping for opinions on these two: Henry James or Wilder James. James is my husband's father's name and we have agreed that it will be the baby's middle name. I am concerned about the "nickname" for each of these and we don't care for Hank, which is the common short of Henry. We were thinking Will or Wil (pronounced "while") for Wilder. Any suggestions or comments?? THANKS!

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Henry James is very nice. Hank is not commonly used these days, so I think it would be easy to avoid that as a nickname.
Wilder James is not so great (Wilder than what, a wildcat?). What if he has ADD or ADHD and his name is Wilder? Not good.
I really like Wilder James. That one gets my vote. I dislike Henry immensely. :)
Terra.
Henry James is actually a long dead author who wrote around the turn of the century. He is widely viewed as one of the greatest american novelists. He wrote Portrait of a Lady and Daisy Miller among others and was a contemporary and good friend of Edith Wharton.
That said, I think it's a great association. James was a brilliant writer. On top of that I love the names Henry and James. If the one I'm pregnant with now were a boy, we would have strongly considered Henry.
Good luck,
Meredith
I like the name Wilder James because it's so different. If your son someday thinks Wilder is too, I don't know, 'wild', he could always use James (we named our son with a 'common' first name and less common middle name - Ethan Chase - for that very reason. Some like to be different, some like to fit in.
That said, your thought on having 'Wil' as a nn might work verbally, but I think anyone reading his name would think it was 'Will' and pronounce it that way. You could also use 'W' - my son is known to most as 'E'. James, Jim or Jimmy could be nns too. Good luck with your new son, whatever you choose!
Best,
Trina
Ginger
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