Five-name Friday: Boy name in honor of Gary

You’re at the supermarket, in the chocolate aisle, picking out some Valentine’s Day goodies to give to your co-workers next week. You’re also chatting with a fellow shopper who’s looking for a big box of chocolates for his wife. He seems pretty excited about something. He says:

We just found out we are having a boy and would love to name him after my dad, but we don’t like the name Gary! What are good alternatives?

You congratulate him, and though you could potentially give him dozens of ideas on the spot, you decide to stay focused and stick to a total of five baby name suggestions.

But here’s the fun part: Instead of blurting out the first five names you come up with (which is what you’d be forced to do in real life) you get to press a magical “pause” button, brainstorm for a bit, and then “unpause” the scenario to offer her the best five names you can think of.

Here are some things to keep in mind as you brainstorm:

  • Be independent. Decide on your five names before looking at anyone else’s five names.
  • Be sincere. Would you honestly suggest these particular baby names out loud to a stranger in a supermarket?
  • Five names only! All names beyond the first five in your comment will be either deleted or replaced with nonsense words.

Finally, here’s the request again:

We just found out we are having a boy and would love to name him after my dad, but we don’t like the name Gary! What are good alternatives?

Which five baby names are you going to suggest?

15 thoughts on “Five-name Friday: Boy name in honor of Gary

  1. Oooh, this is fun! My first radio appearance was to discuss the falling popularity of the name Gary. So here are the names I would recommend:

    Gar(r)et(h), Geirr, Garfield, ***, Gerard

    All derivatives of the same root as Gary.

    (Note: If my suggestions count as six instead of five, please delete ‘***’ from the list.)

    [Edited to conform to the 5 name rule. Sorry! -Nancy]

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