Duana, please help!?

My spouse and I are expecting our first child, a boy, in October. His family is German/Dutch and mine is German/British. The only thing we have agreed on is that we both would like to go the German route as our heritage is a big part of both our families. The family names are not options (Peter (baby would be the third), Anthonus, Lawrence (3 Rence's), and Adolf (for obvious reasons).

We both would like to go a little off the beaten path but have veto'd each others top choices. I loooooove Felix, but hubby can't get behind it and I am worried it is the hipster name of 2014. He liked Fredrich (freddie) but i just can't get on board with liking the nickname, and the idea of anyone calling him Fred grosses me out. Other names we had discussed were Bastien, Archie, Otto, and Wilhelm. His middle name will be Gregory and our last name is W*****r.

Please help before the little German arrives.

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You know, usually when I get one of these letters all “One wants this and the other wants that!” I side with one of the other, but in this case I really want to plead with both of you. There are such good names at stake here!

First of all, I lost the fight on Otto at my house. I would have loved a little Otto! I lost. So listen and think about whether there’s any reason that’s not the best name you’ve heard all week.

It might not be, but that’s because you both have awesome names in your arsenal to endorse. First of all, you know the thing we always used to hear about how the prettiest girl in school probably didn’t get asked to the dance because everyone thought she was already asked? That’s what I think is going on with Felix. A loooot of people are flirting with it and then choosing Noah or Jackson. So I think it might still be valid for you, because in all my paying attention and filing and noting, I have yet to meet a baby Felix in the last 18 months.

Then, there’s Freidrich. COME ON. Freddie is so damn cute and he’ll definitively be the only one in his class UNTIL PEOPLE READ THIS because it’s an awesome moniker. But if you can’t handle Fred – and fine, no problem – you just call him Fritz and watch the people joyfully celebrate in your wake. Fritz!

Are you two still at odds? Have you dragged him over to read this on your laptop but you’re both still not feeling it? Then how about Anselm? Bertram – baby Bert? Leopold, of course, who could wind up being Leo, which is great, but maybe deGermanizes in a way you don’t want. What about Roger? I know there’s a sort of a good-guy attachment to the name but isn’t Federer eliminating that as we speak?   Not that he’s not a good guy, but he can be…you know. (Lainey: is that a sports analogy from you, Duana???) Not that that’s how you want to think of your son. You get the idea. Lastly, what about Waldo? You mentioned Wilhelm, and I only don’t encourage it because I think there are any number of Wil-names ready to jump in here (ALTHOUGH, Wilfred is a great way to get the sounds you want, nickname him Wilf, and), but Waldo is unusual. Maybe?

Lastly, I got chastised for suggesting Wolfgang too often, because a reader wants to use it for her own and didn’t want it to get popular. So I won’t suggest it here. Heh.

Enjoy and let me know!!

Oh, and as per my promise, a reader sent in a bunch of awesome K names of Indian origin, including  Krish, Kavita, and Kiran. Get inspired!