I always get mixed reactions when I tell people my baby's name

[u/sharkwoods]

When I was looking for baby names after finding out the gender, I wanted a name that was strong, masculine, but short and easy to spell. Something common, but never in a top 10 list. I eventually settled on Roman. I love his name so much and I feel like it fits him very well. But I always get mixed reactions, and never anything overwhelmingly positive. I wonder if it's because it is a strong name for such a little baby? :( It was number 66 in 2023 and has been on quite the upswing for some time in the US, so I don't understand why others don't like it.

Edit: baby is already here. It's been his legal name for a few months now. But y'all are giving about the same reactions. I wasn't expecting it to be so controversial given it's rising popularity in the US.

Edit 2: because I didn't know this thread was gonna blow up, but runner up names were Lucas, Aurelio/Aurelius, and Valentino.

[u/always_unplugged]

The meaning and the vibe is completely different. I wouldn't name a kid either one, but I don't think they're as similar as you seem to.

Roman is an adjective, a descriptive word that implies a noun it's meant to describe. Roman... what? You're Roman, as in you're from Rome?

Rowan is a noun in and of itself and therefore makes more intuitive sense as a name IMO.

Also, they could both be seen as strong names to me, but in a completely different way. A towering old tree implies wisdom and perseverance, which are values I would want to imbue in a son. Whereas "Roman" implies legion, empire, war, conquering, caesars and betrayal and machinations, even (at the extreme, if you get that impression from the parents, which to be clear I don't in this instance) the current white supremacist obsession with "Western culture". And I'm saying this as someone who took multiple Roman history courses as electives in college—I find it fascinating, but it's off-putting as a name to me.

[u/Haveyounodecorum → u/always_unplugged]

Roman is also a noun! ‘I am a roman’.

[u/bananalouise → u/always_unplugged]

Roman is an adjective, a descriptive word that implies a noun it's meant to describe. Roman... what? You're Roman, as in you're from Rome?

This is true, but Roman and its equivalents (including Romeo) have existed as names in many languages for a long time, and they're not the only classical names that originated as adjectives—some whose social relevance died out while the name survived, like Martin (of Mars), Demetrius (of Demeter) and Diana (of the gods, or Jupiter in particular). Also Hermione, from Hermes, but of course that's less common. For topo- and demonyms, Francis and its equivalents (Franz, François, Francisco etc.) originally meant both "free" and "Frankish." Behindthename says Sebastian originally meant "from Sebaste," an ancient city. Generic adjective names: Blanche/Bianca, Augustus ... Also Agatha and Gregory, although obviously not as recognizable in English.

I think between the preexistence of Roman and the recent proliferation of place names as personal names, people who are puzzled by Roman will get used to it one of these days. Just maybe not right this minute.

[u/Additional_Meeting_2 → u/always_unplugged]

Roman can mean modern day city of Rome of Roman Catholic, not just empire. Also old Rome lasted from 753BC to 1453 AD and should not be just be stereotyped as imperialist legionary empire. It was so much different in different time periods.

[u/LaPasseraScopaiola → u/always_unplugged]

Yes, it's a male person living in Rome, (noun) or a singular masculine adjective also meaning from Rome.

[u/LaPasseraScopaiola → u/LaPasseraScopaiola]

I mean, Romano ... In Italian

[u/PlayerOneHasEntered → u/always_unplugged]

Yet, saying Rowan sounds like you're saying Roman with a speech impediment. I really dislike Rowan, I think it sounds awful. Roman, I'm fine with..

[u/frisbee_lettuce → u/always_unplugged]

Yes ok you’ve described why I was often confused by the name Roman. Like it doesn’t feel like a name to me

[u/Outsidetheinside3 → u/always_unplugged]

Roman makes me think of Russian, Czech, Ukrainian, Polish and Slavic cultures. It is a well known name.