Need help with our baby boy's name!

[LKMang]

We have had the hardest time coming up with DS2's name, who is due in the beginning of April. DS1's name is Bradley. Love that name especially because it's pretty traditional but not too terribly popular right now. Before we knew what we were having this time, I had the baby girl name picked. Named after my mom and DH mom, who have both passed away, it was beautiful and perfect. Now that we are having another son, I feel like I'm just picking names! DH named DS1 so I get to name DS2. I had no idea how stressful it was!!

Right now our list is narrowed down to 4 (i think)…
Emmett
Nick (maybe Nicholas)
Sam
Luke

I've loved Emmett for a while now. Do you think it will be more popular now with the LEGO movie? Nick is a new one on our list that I really love, but am still deciding whether to just name him Nick or go with Nicholas, which I am kinda "eh" about. Same with Sam (love Sam, Samuel or Samson not so much).

Our last name begins with an "S" and ends with an "N". I tend to avoid first names that also end with an "N" cause it sounds too rhyme-y to me.

So, opinions? Other ideas? I feel like I've been through the baby name book a million times cause I keep thinking I'm missing the perfect name! I'd love to go in with 2 names and decide once we see him.

Thank you!!! We are trying to keep the name a surprise to family and friends until the little guy is born.

[BabyBearsMom]

I would not do Sam if your last name starts with an S. I had a lisp as a child and i was very sensitive about that when I was naming our kids since our last name starts with an S. My maiden name also started with an S and my first name has an S in it, so as a lisping child, I couldn't say my need. It made me super shy and I was terrified of introducing myself. When a substitute teacher was in and we had to go around and say our names, I was moritifed. So just in case one of my kids had a lisp, I avoided names with S's in them.

I think Luke is pretty popular around here. Our preschool has several Luke's, a Lucas and two boys named Luca (although I think one may spell it Luka). I like Emmett and Nick. Nicholas was on our list for boys name, and calling him Niko for short. Some other options:

Bennett
Jasper
Casper
Cole
Conner
Henry
Oliver
Owen
Jack
Max
Noah

[flashy09]

Charlie? It came to mind when I heard Bradley. Since you like nicknames (sam, nick) as well as traditional, I thought it was a nice mix of both!

[scrooks]

Aren't boys names hard??? I sympathize! I like all of your choices but am partial to Sam/Samuel (:) I have a Sam of my own).

I really like Luke but LOVE Lucas. Nick is probably my least favorite off of your list.

What about Mark? I also love the suggestion of Charlie!

[AnnieW625]

I like all of the names.

Emmett is okay, but yeah depending on how hip and trendy your area is you might get someone who is into Legos who asks you if you named your son after Emmett from The Lego Movie, but TBQH I wouldn't worry about it esp. if you really like the name Emmett.

My nephew is Lucas and sometimes my BIL calls him Luke, but I like Luke as well.

I think all of the names go well with Bradley, but I think Emmett sounds just fine with it.

What about William?

[HannaAddict]

Beckett? I like it and similar to Emmett.

[klwa]

Emmett is my favorite of those listed with what you've told us abotu your last name. Luke is nice, but there are a lot of Lucases & Lukes around here. As someone who was named a nickname, if you go with Nick or Sam, go with the full form of the name, not the nickname.

Other ideas: Edmund, Isaac

[karstmama]

all this is just stream-of-consciousness food for thought.

i like all the names on your list, but to me they aren't 'bradley's brother' in feeling. to me bradley is contemporary but not over popular, just like you said, and the older vibe and biblical names, though great names, aren't hitting the same note.

(not that sibling names have to all hit the same note. again, this is totally personal opinion, and if you name your sweet new baby emmett sam, terrific!)

so, names that hit that note to me might be - christopher, gregory, craig, kenneth, jonathan, jeffrey, william, roger, rodney, dean, kevin, keith, michael…

i know you'll find something you all love. :)

[TwinFoxes]

Emmett is nice. I agree with PP, Luke and. Lucas are fairly popular around here. How about Hank? You can name him Henry, nn Hank.

I like Nick, I would go with Nicholas though. My friends who are named nicknames wish they had a full name. I think the NN as name trend was popular with folks my age.

[speo]

all this is just stream-of-consciousness food for thought.

i like all the names on your list, but to me they aren't 'bradley's brother' in feeling. to me bradley is contemporary but not over popular, just like you said, and the older vibe and biblical names, though great names, aren't hitting the same note.

(not that sibling names have to all hit the same note. again, this is totally personal opinion, and if you name your sweet new baby emmett sam, terrific!)

so, names that hit that note to me might be - christopher, gregory, craig, kenneth, jonathan, jeffrey, william, roger, rodney, dean, kevin, keith, michael…

i know you'll find something you all love. :)

I agree with this.

I personally wouldn't even nickname the second boy (much less use it as a given name) because I like symmetry or like names. I like Bradley a lot. For me it stands out as a name you are choosing to not shorten. I know more Brads than Bradleys. So imho, Bradley and Nick don't go well together, but Bradley and Nicholas do. Having written those I like that combo. I also like Emmett.

[JBaxter]

Funny there are no Luke/ Lucas in my son's 4th grade class OR Jack's preschool class But there are 1 Cole in each 2 Connor's a Henry, an Owen 3 Jack ( or form of Jack) 2 Max's and 2 Noah's Emmett is my least favorite of all the list. Emmie could easily be used to tease with ( yeah I think about those things)
I would not do Sam if your last name starts with an S. I had a lisp as a child and i was very sensitive about that when I was naming our kids since our last name starts with an S. My maiden name also started with an S and my first name has an S in it, so as a lisping child, I couldn't say my need. It made me super shy and I was terrified of introducing myself. When a substitute teacher was in and we had to go around and say our names, I was moritifed. So just in case one of my kids had a lisp, I avoided names with S's in them.

I think Luke is pretty popular around here. Our preschool has several Luke's, a Lucas and two boys named Luca (although I think one may spell it Luka). I like Emmett and Nick. Nicholas was on our list for boys name, and calling him Niko for short. Some other options:

Bennett
Jasper
Casper
Cole
Conner
Henry
Oliver
Owen
Jack
Max
Noah

I love Sam & Luke. I only know 1 Luke ( friends son who is 10)

[KpbS]

I like Sam but not necessarily with and S last name and I prefer Samuel or Samson vs. Sam.

Luke is great and not overly popular at all. I don't care for Emmett, just not my style.

What about

Jacob
Caleb
David
Davis
Mark
Thomas

ETA I just reread your OP and you are looking for a name not ending in "N"--oops!

[zukeypur]

I love Luke. It was on my short list, but my last name starts with an L too and the name would have been too close to Lex Luther. Oh, and I had all girls. ;)

[AngB]

I have a Lucas, we mostly call him Luke. Have not run into it much at all so far.

DS2 is Matthew though we already mostly call him Matt too.

Naming DS1 was easy, loved that name so much and it means "bringer of light" in latin which was perfectly fitting after our loss of dd1. Naming DS2 was so so hard and I felt like we had to settle for a name we didn't LOVE like the last time. But honestly, it fits him perfectly, I can't imagine him being named anything else now.

[flashy09]

Also, since you like short names, what about Rex?

[LKMang]

Thank you all so much for the responses. Really nice to hear others opinions (especially when we aren't telling anyone in real life!)

So true about naming the baby a nickname vs. a name that can have a nickname. Right now Bradley does go by "Bradley". I'm sure as he gets older he may become "Brad" but I agree with those who like the symmetry of siblings names together. I just wish I liked Nicholas more. I like it, just don't LOVE it! (And the bummer is that I LOVE the name Dominic, which we could also NN Nick, however have a coworker named that and it kind of ruins the name for me!)

When I picked Sam, I thought Sam S--n sounded really good together and liked the S S names, but never even thought of if he has a lisp! Yeah, I can totally understand your point!

Thank you again for your suggestions. Boys names are tough for me and it seems like since DS has started school and gotten more involved in activity we are meeting lots of kids and lots of names are going out the window (love the names Charlie, Beckett, Thomas, Cole, Max but know kids with those names and not all of them are positive associations). And getting DH to agree is a whole other story.

Hoping once we finally get to see DS2, a name will fit. I'll keep you posted :)

[Tondi G]

I like Emmett a lot! I think Emmett and Bradley sound nice together.

I know a lot of Luke/Lukas/Lucas boys here in Los Angeles.

[AnnieW625]

Here are some more thoughts:
Ian (our name for DD2 had she been a boy)
Ethan (our name for DD1 had she been a boy)
Logan
Daniel
Jacob
Jeffrey
Xavier
Stephen/Steven
Christopher
Mark
Marcus
Ryan
Carter
Michael

Popular boy names in my area of the South Bay/SE area of Los Angeles County (I know two or more of each of these names, all 9 and under):
Jack
Jackson
Gavin
Luke/Lucas
Max (four are between the age of 8 and 9, and the other is 2. The little one's full name is Maxavier, two are Maxwell, one is Maximillian, and one is plain Max)
Carter
Dean
Noah
Mateo

[bostonsmama]

Luke is a great name. ;) The only thing I don't like is that it rhymes too well with "puke." And nicknames are hard: Lukers, Lukey-Luke...so of course we just gave him a great middle name so he could go by his initials. LC, LJ, LZ, LG, LP, LT...

[indigo99]

My mom had picked out Luke for my brother until someone pointed out that he would likely be tall and could be called Luke Skywalker. I doubt that ANYONE would have ever called him that, but he is 6'7" now so maybe...

I'm a fan of Benjamin (baby Ben), but even it has a problem in that you could have a heavy child called Big Ben. I think mean kids can can come up with something horrible to say about almost any name. If not then they'll just pick on something other than the name.

DS1 has the same first and last initial (both names have two syllables and end in -en). I like the way it sounds though.

[american_mama]

Similar to Emmett is Everett or Everest, if you're really daring. Also Bennett. I do know two Emmett's locally (both born 7 years ago or so), and it's the name of a major street in our town thus increasing it's visibility, and I personally don't think it's a name that would get too popular.

Another nickname for Nicholas is Nico (NEE-co), which I really love.

Other ideas, with an emphasis on one-syllable name since you seem to like that:

Cooper, Andrew, Kyle, Miles, Seth, West, Bryce, Cash, Louis or Lewis, Vincent/Vince (I know two preschoolers named that), Finn, Calvin.

I know two boys who go by Whitt (one is Whitley, one is Whitford).

Maybe Mitchell, Marshall, Dean, Theo, Frederick (nickname could be Rick or Fred), Eric.

[c&j04]

I like Niklas better than Nick-o-las. NN Nix.

[HannaAddict]

I like Niklas better than Nick-o-las. NN Nix.

That seems like it would be misspelled all the time though.

[c&j04]

Nope :)

[hellbennt]

can you give a hint of what the perfect girl name is that you wanted? maybe we'll come up with something from it?

Liam
I haven't seen that name listed (or I missed it, lol) & it 'goes' with Bradley (at least to me it does)...

Brian? yes, an 'n' at the end...hmm...

Quaid? Quade?
Spencer? my friend has 2ds, Bradley & Spencer, & a dd Mallory

[hellokitty]

I would caution against another, "B" name, since your older son is a Bradley. I say this, b/c my two older sons have names starting with the same first letter. We did not do this on purpose, but ppl love to point out that we have a pattern set (which is annoying). So, of course when I was pg with DS3, ppl pointed out that I would choose another name starting with the same letter as my two boys (so I purposely chose a name with a different letter and different type of name all together). I also get my older two boys' names mixed up all the time and so do friends/family/students, since my kids are close in age, sometimes ppl cannot remember which one is which (they don't look alike to me, but to some ppl, they do), and the names starting with the same letter ends up adding to the confusion. So, just my 2 cents. I think that if anything, since Bradley has two syllables, try to pick another name with at least two syllables to balance out their names. Of the ones on your list, I do like Emmett, b/c I like that it's not another name ending with a -y. Also, I have yet to meet a real-life Emmett. It seems like a name I see often on these boards, but one that ppl like, but don't end up choosing.

[indigo99]

FWIW, I do think that an Emmett would have to spell his name for everyone. I have to do that with my last name, and it's annoying enough. I wouldn't want to do it with my first name. I have Emitt relatives who just automatically say "one M and two Ts" when they say it.

[almostmom]

What about Wyatt? Similar to Emmett...

I also like Benjamin, and think it's nice with Bradley.

I love the name Lucas, and Luke and Luka, but it is super popular around me. Multiple Lukes per class, every year.