A reader and her husband are expecting a baby boy in January. They’re down to two names: Atlas and Finch.
If we decide to go with Atlas, his name will be Atlas Grey. However, if we decide to go with Finch, we’re having a terrible time deciding on a middle name. My first thought is Finch Winter but I’m not sure if it’s too feminine. We would love any kind of feedback or ideas. I’m thinking it should be two syllables and obviously something out of the ordinary.
So, here are the questions:
- Which name do you like better, Atlas or Finch?
- Is Finch Winter too feminine?
- What middle name(s) would you suggest for Finch?
Please give us your answers in the comments!
Here’s what I think:
1. I prefer Atlas to Finch for several reasons, one being that the name Finch immediately brought to mind Stifler’s Mom from American Pie. (And another American Pie movie is due out next year. Who knows how long they’ll keep that franchise/joke alive.)
2. Finch Winter doesn’t strike me as being too “feminine” necessarily — just unisex, as nature names tend to be.
3. My first thought was Winston, which is similar to Winter, but decidedly masculine. Here are some other ideas:
| Ambrose Arthur Clement Cyrus Desmond | Henry Luther Maxwell Osborn Roderick | Roland Roman Simon Sinclair Titus |
What do you think?
I like Atlas Grey so much, it is tough to consider anything else.
Finch is the kind of name I want to like, and want to like for a boy. (One of my daughter’s middle names is Wren, so I truly do love bird names.) But somehow it falls flat. It isn’t the American Pie reference, or the Just Shoot Me connection. Instead, I just find the sound awkward in the first place. Matthew Finch or Emmett Finch or Caspian Finch is great. But somehow I can’t think of a single middle name that really works with Finch.
Or maybe I can … Finch Wallace? Finch Kinley? Finch Henley?
No, on second thought I’d just go with Atlas Grey. It is a GREAT name!
I love Atlas, but I can’t bring myself to like Finch. I don’t find the sound appealing, and all I can think of is David Spade’s character on Just Shoot Me [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just_Shoot_Me!#Dennis_Finch]. I agree that it works better in the middle. I think Atlas Finch sounds nice, though maybe that’s too close to Atticus?
Atlas Grey is definitely my favorite. I don’t think Finch Winter is feminine sounding; I would probably wonder if Finch was a boy or a girl. I prefer Finch as a middle name.
1. Atlas (by a hair)
2. no
3. I think that it would be most satisfying if the MN for Finch had some special meaning for the parents (hometown, hero, aspiration …), so I’ll make some suggestions but I’m not convinced they’ll sing to them.
I like both Atlas AND Finch. Atlas Grey is stunning. But I think you can make Finch great, too, and I’m kinda meh about Winter as the MN. I’m liking all the 2-syllable suggestions and I’m imagining a 2-syllable surname. But if the last name is one-syllable, I think a 3- or 4-syllable middle would be nice.
Finch Jasper?
Finch Tristan?
Finch Ajax?
Finch Amon?
Finch Eamon/Eamonn?
Finch Godfrey?
Finch Oscar?
Finch Leander?
Finch Sebastian?
Finch Montgomery?
I like the name Atlas better but if you go with Finch, I would use it as his middle name, his first name would be Atticus after Atticus Finch from the novel and movie, To Kill A Mockingbird.
i like finch better, but i guess i’m the only one! i also have never seen the movie/tv show that has these characters names finch. i think it would sound great with a longer middle name like finch ullysses or finch jonathan anything on the longer side. it’s hard to suggest something without knowing how it balances w the last name.
@taz – Good point about the surname. The reader’s surname is actually two names, Lewis-Goldin*, but I don’t know if this will be the baby’s surname or whether he’ll just get one name or the other. (I’ve been having trouble getting in touch with the reader, but when I do, I’ll ask.)
*Changed slightly.
My first thought was “Atticus Finch”, too. Atlas Lewis-Goldin, Atlas Lewis, or Finch Goldin seem to be too matchy to me. I like Finch Lewis-Golden or Finch Lewis and Atlas Goldin better. (If the last names are enough different, then the matchiness might not be an issue, and Atticus with a name like Lewis would work better than Atlas, for me.)
I’m the one looking for these names and I just wanted to say thank-you so much everyone! I’m having a great time reading all your suggestions and I can’t begin to tell you how much I appreciate everyone’s comments. Nancy, thank you for posting this for us. I’m pretty sure we’re going with the hyphenated version.
Jenn, you’re welcome! I hope this helps you with your decision.
(And I’m really glad you stopped by. I’ve been trying to email you, but the messages keep getting bounced back, I’m not sure why.)
Finch Flannigan.
I like Atlas.
Although, I am partial.
My son is named Atlas.
@Dustin…just curious, how did you come up with Atlas and if you don’t mind me asking, what state do you live in?
@Jenn
Atlas as a name was a long (and GREAT) story to come to the decision of. I will spare everyone the details here…but the short of it is that my “pet” name / term of endearment for my wife has always been my “Big Sky”. Her way of telling me she wanted to be with me was that I had a close female friend that I had always called “Sunshine” and my wife said to me one day “I want to be your Sunshine.” I thought quick and replied…”You can be my Big Sky…that’s better than Sunshine..without the Big Sky the Sun would have no place to exist.”
Thus, when looking at many, many names for our son, I realized that it was Atlas’ job to hold up the Celestial Sphere…i.e. the “Big Sky”. It was the perfect name. It was masculine (we really disliked the trend of the over feminizing of male names”), it was unusual, and it was personal and poetic.
We live in Brooklyn, NY
Atlas also has a blog if you’d care to see…(sorry for the link, but I’m a proud pappa that likes showing off his handsome boy)…http://atlas42.tumblr.com
P.S. The name we’d decided on just prior to our final decision: Atticus.
(thought you might like to know after looking through your list up there) :)
Dustin, that is one cute little boy. Atlas is a perfect name for him. Thanks for sharing his blog.
@Dustin – Cool story!
Hi everyone… Just wanted to let you know we had our baby on February 3rd and we decided to go with Atlas Grey. Thank you so much for all your suggestions… I truly appreciated it! Oh and @Dustin, your son is adorable and thank you for sharing your story.
Congratulations!
That’s great news, congratulations! I love his name.
Im not sure if its only in australia or what not but to me an atlas is a book full of maps??
We are expecting in a few weeks and decided a few months ago to use Atlas as a first name… James as a second name. Our friends and family are always stunned by the name choice, but we love it. Our first son, Tate (middle name Clarke)says baby Atlas over and over so there is no going back. Glad to hear it worked out and you chose it over Finch. The shoe road map thing is so boring given it is a name for a Titan.
I love the name Atlas. It is what we are probably going with however some of my friends have said people will associate the name with Atlas Shrugged. Has anyone asked if you named your son after the book?
We named our first son Tate and our second son Atlas. They are both growing into their names. Tate is handsome, athletic and a heartbreaker at 3 years old; Atlas is strong, and good-humoured, taking everything in stride. We love both names and they are both well-received although we get a double-take with Atlas. I like the A and the fact it’s got a t… it is a strong name and I have no doubt that when his older brother is bullied in school, the bully will have to contend with Atlas stuffing him in a locker. So, I am biased but we love Atlas. I liked Tudor, too, but my hubby didn’t.
Jenn, Congrats on the birth of Atlas Grey!
We have since had some big changes…we have had our second son. We decided to name him “Wit”.
We went with this because I believe that every boy needs 2 things…wit & guts, the rest he’ll figure out for himself.
So, our crew now is Atlas 42 and Wit Danger.
Just this week Wit has started standing on his own without holding on and Atlas just wrapped up swim lessons!
Atlas is often asked if he said his name was “Alex”…I guess that is what his diction makes it sound like. But we still LOVE the name! And yes occasionally someone makes that ATLAS SHRUGGED reference, but I just look at them like they are an idiot and haven’t put any thought into their question to think that I, of all people, would name my kid after an Ayn Rand book!
Oh, we have a new web/blog address too! http://thisoldman.me
Look under the captures/family life for the blog about the boys!
Cheers!
Dustin…congrats on your new son! His name is great, very creative. I’m three months alway from having our second (also a boy) and I’m having a really hard time thinking of a name for this one
As far as being asked about Atlas Shrugged, it’s only happened once. I also would never, ever name my child after an Ayn Rand book so I feel your pain. Most people just remark that he must have the world on his shoulders and I’m okay with that. Ironically, the name Rourke is on our list this time which is also an Ayn Rand character so I feel like if we went with that one, I would have a very hard time convincing people I was indeed not an Ayn Rand fanatic. I’m having a much harder time with this kid. I fear his name will be NoName. Perhaps we can pronounce it No-Nah-Me. Did you guys have a harder time with names the second time around or did you just know?
I’m going to check out the blog now. Good luck with the boys!