[MellieMel]

Hello Mums & Mums-to-be,
My husband and I are expecting our first baby in July and are trying to finalise names. We have a lovely girls name already though are stuck for a boys name. There are lots that we like but they have already been taken by family or friends. There is one name we both absolutely love and keep coming back to every time we talk about the baby name topic, though, we have a slight hesitation as the name is very close to a name from history that is not so great.
The name is Harvey. With our surname it will be Harvey Lee, not unlike the infamous Lee Harvey Oswald of the JFK history.
Can I please ask your advice. Would you just go with it as you love it OR would it bother you that it has such a similarity to a name in history?Secondly, how would you feel if your child went to school with a Harvey Lee? Would you immediately think of Oswald?
We will have a middle name, Maxwell after my Dad who has passed. We both love the name, my brother has already named his son it. Making our son Harvey Maxwell Lee.
Your advice and thoughts will be greatly appreciated! Best wishes to you all too and good luck with your name choosing.

[vixxistar]

I didnt think of it at first, (but it is late and im a bit sleep deprived! ) However now you have pointed it out I can see how it might spring to mind. But that doesnt mean it cant be used. I doubt anyone of his generation would make the connection either.

Didnt help you at all did I!?

This post has been edited by vixxistar: 11/04/2012, 10:31 PM

[kerilyntaryn]

I think it would be ok and most people wouldn't even think of that

This post has been edited by kerilyntaryn: 11/04/2012, 10:55 PM

[Mrs Flanders]

I'm really sorry but yes. Before I even read your surname, the name Harvey makes me think of Oswald. Maybe run it by a few more people though - not everyone will make that connection.

[ali27]

I think those events are long ago now and most people would not make that connection nowadys. In my opinion, go with the name if it's your favourite and you are both happy with it.

[Kay1]

Secondly, how would you feel if your child went to school with a Harvey Lee? Would you immediately think of Oswald?

Yes I would - but I'm not sure its enough of a link to not use a name I loved.

Funnily enough I know someone with the double barrel surname Maxwell Lee so you could maybe go that route if it really worried you?

[Dabri]

It would make me think of Lee Harvey Oswald - and I think people would definitely make the connection. After all, how many of us in this thread were alive when JFk was shot - and yet how many of us know who shot him (conspiracy theories aside)?

Similarly, bet most people can name the killer of Abraham Lincoln - and none of us were definitely alive then!

I think a name that invokes the murderer of a US president, especially when it also involves the biggest conspiracy theory on the planet, would be a tough name to carry.

[Surpriselove]

I love it

[Amber Spyglass]

I don't know who shot Abraham Lincoln?

And I wouldn't have though of the connection for Harvey Lee either.

If you like the name, go for it.

If it going to bother you that a certain percentage of people will make the connection, would you use a similar name - Harry, Hardy, Harley, Harlow?

[Bel Rowley]

It does make me think of Lee Harvey Oswald, but then I did grow up in an Americophile family and we had every book and video available on the Kennedys in our house.

If you'd said the name was going to be Lee Harvey, no way would I do it, but I think you can get away with Harvey Lee.