What's your first thought when you hear this name?

[Wafflewaffle]

I think Leo 'the angel' from the tv show charmed

me too!!

 

[Abigailly]

Leo was a guardian in my favourite program. That's all I think of. It's lovely. It's fairly common up here though.

 

[xjesx]

I absolutely think of DiCaprio.

Being in North America our culture is polluted with celebrity life so yes I think of the actor.

Does that make it a bad name? No. Does it make me think you would name your son after the actor? No.

I think Leo is a wonderful name.

 

[ShelbyLC]

My train of thought goes:

1. Leo
2. A boy I knew when I was a child
3. Lion
4. Zodiac
5. DiCaprio
6. DaVinci

 

[girlnboots]

I love Leonidas. Could you call him Leon instead?

 

[nicky]

I like it, it doesn't make me think of the actor either

 

[alibaba24]

I don't actually think of anything when I hear Leo Its just a name. I dont mean that in a bad way if you know what I mean also by the time your LO is growing up Leonardo Dicaprio will be old hat x

 

[daneuse27]

Thats a good point actually. If you're worried about the di Caprio association, he may not be famous anymore when your LO is growing up.

da Vinci however will always be a legend and to me thats an awesome association

 

[ciaramoy]

I love Leo... its actually number 1 on my list for a boy.

I say go for it!

 

[auntiesarah25]

I think of Leo from Charmed whenever I hear the name - I quite liked him though

 

[anneliese]

I love Leonidas. Could you call him Leon instead?

I actually quite like Leon, but I feel like a lot of Americans would associate that name with some Italian-American mobster from New Jersey or something

 

[tommyg]

My first though was Leo the Lion cub, a cute fluffy version!

My second though is why not just get them to learn the kids proper name?
Can't be that hard can it??? It seems that he's soon to be confused with you and DH calling him one name, the IL's another and you are proposing a third name for your family.

 

[Zuki]

My son has a Greek name that doesn't have an English equivalent, but I want my family to be able to call him something they can pronounce easily, so a shortened version of his name is "Leo". I've had more than one person tell me though that they automatically associate it with Leonardo DiCaprio and for some reason that really annoys me. (I've actually always liked the actor, but for some reason I don't want that to be people's first thought when they hear his name).

So, would you make the same association when hearing the same or something entirely different?

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles...

 

[anneliese]

My first though was Leo the Lion cub, a cute fluffy version!

My second though is why not just get them to learn the kids proper name?
Can't be that hard can it??? It seems that he's soon to be confused with you and DH calling him one name, the IL's another and you are proposing a third name for your family.

I said the same thing, but I won't budge on what I want to call MY child. If his family doesn't like it, it's their problem

 

[Sun_Flower]

So they can't pronounce Leonidas? Make them watch 300 I think it's an awesome name!!

With Leo I automatically think of the character from Charmed, lol xx

 

[anneliese]

So they can't pronounce Leonidas? Make them watch 300 I think it's an awesome name!!

With Leo I automatically think of the character from Charmed, lol xx

I've actually never heard it pronounced in English, but when I googled "how do you pronounce Leonidas" to see what English speaking people were saying, nobody was pronouncing it correctly . In Greek it is pronounced like Lay-o-NEE-thas (the "th" is pronounced like the "th" in the word "then", not like in "bath")

 

[tommyg]

My first though was Leo the Lion cub, a cute fluffy version!

My second though is why not just get them to learn the kids proper name?
Can't be that hard can it??? It seems that he's soon to be confused with you and DH calling him one name, the IL's another and you are proposing a third name for your family.

I said the same thing, but I won't budge on what I want to call MY child. If his family doesn't like it, it's their problem

No you shouldn't budge on what you name your child. However you can't have separate rules for the 2 sides of the family.
If you want insists the ILs call him by his proper name you should also insist your family learn to say it. Therefore you have one child with one name rather than the ILs calling him one name, you his proper name and your family a shortened version of it.

That should also help your arguments with the ILs, he is to be known as X. Nothing else

 

[girlnboots]

I love Leonidas. Could you call him Leon instead?

I actually quite like Leon, but I feel like a lot of Americans would associate that name with some Italian-American mobster from New Jersey or something

It makes me think of a nerdy, Jewish accountant or something, haha. Like Mort from family guy.

 

[anneliese]

My first though was Leo the Lion cub, a cute fluffy version!

My second though is why not just get them to learn the kids proper name?
Can't be that hard can it??? It seems that he's soon to be confused with you and DH calling him one name, the IL's another and you are proposing a third name for your family.

I said the same thing, but I won't budge on what I want to call MY child. If his family doesn't like it, it's their problem

No you shouldn't budge on what you name your child. However you can't have separate rules for the 2 sides of the family.
If you want insists the ILs call him by his proper name you should also insist your family learn to say it. Therefore you have one child with one name rather than the ILs calling him one name, you his proper name and your family a shortened version of it.

That should also help your arguments with the ILs, he is to be known as X. Nothing else

The problem is the in-laws will call him what they want no matter what.. I call him Leonidas and Leo, depending on my mood, so it's not like I'm having my family call him something entirely different just because they can't pronounce his full name.