Deciding on baby boy name…
Hi all, my husband and I are struggling to make a decision for a baby boy. We want to honor a family member with a name that starts with N for Nancy and initially chose Noam. This is a common Hebrew/Jewish name (we are Jewish) that is pronounced No-Ahm. Noah is already taken in the family. I didn’t necessarily plan on picking a Jewish or a Hebrew name, it just kind of happened- I combed through the top 1000 SSA names and didn’t like any other N names quite as much. For months we had planned on using Noam Richard (after another family member). A few weeks ago I was looking into other boy names that could be used to honor Nancy because I had concerns that Noam would be pronounced as “gnome” or misheard as “Noah” all the time. My husband has a Hebrew name that gets mistaken for another more common American name quite frequently and it can be frustrating for him. I saw a suggestion on Reddit to use Ronan for Nancy because of the Nan at the end and really liked it because Ronen (spelled slightly differently and has a different meaning) is actually a Hebrew name! Plus it also starts with an R for Richard. The emphasis is technically on a different syllable in Ronan vs. Ronen, but we don’t mind either pronunciation. Noam is definitely more popular in Jewish communities, but Ronen feels more accessible outside of these spaces. We are struggling to make a final decision and are interested in any feedback from people who are both familiar and unfamiliar with these two names that could help sway us one way or the other.
- We had Noam in our heads for so long and are having trouble parting with it. Part of me still likes having the first name start with N because of how important it is to specifically honor Nancy. We also made the mistake of mentioning it to two family members early on who may be influencing us. Has anyone else changed a name last minute in pregnancy and had this problem? We have definitely learned our lesson about not sharing the name too early!
- We still like the flow of Noam Richard more than any middle name we can think of for Ronen. Ronen Richard feels like too much R and would also be repetitious in naming him after the same person in two names. We are considering using Noam as the middle name, but not sure if we like the flow of Ronen Noam.
- A much less important concern is I see Roman, Rowan, and even Ronan as rising in popularity. Are these names (and Ronen by association) going to feel dated in the future? I have a very classic 90s girl name that is now super dated and it is something I think about for myself. Again this doesn’t really matter- I know what is most important is we like the name and not what else is popular!
Not to make this more complicated, but we are also open to hearing any other suggestions based on this criteria!
If you made it this far thanks for reading!