Please help us with a baby boy name!!!! Hickory or Basil???

[indigos mommy]

Our daughter's name is Indigo and our last name is one syllable and starts with C.  We definitely want a different name but are very stuck.  I love Hickory and the way it sounds with our last name, but I don't like its natural nickname.  We call Indigo "Indie" and would love to have another cool nickname for our son.  Basil can short to Baz and be fun, but any ideas about Hickory, or would you just not use it?

Thanks for your help!!

[Baby_Cakes]

Hmm,  Hickory is really interesting!  I like it!

I think if you love it more, use it.  You will come up with a natural nickname.  Who knows - Kory might flow out, or you might not use a nickname at all.

[Megan73]

I LOVE Basil. It's a name with dignity plus an adorable nickname.

Hickory - and inevitable "Hick" - doesn't appeal to me, especially if your last name starts with a hard "C."

[dakotablue]

I really like both names (though Dh would never go for either...he's very traditional)

HIckory is an awesome name, but I agree with the other poster the "Hick" would be the first nickname to come to mind...but then again my name is Rebecca and we have been able to avoid Becky almost my whole life, so you could get by with Kory. But that's also a normal name...

Basil is awesome too, it makes me think of woodland Elves.

[texmati]

Hickory all they way! Basil sounds feminine to me. I'd do hickory, and plan to call him cory if he wants a nickname. I don't think he'd automatically be called hick.

[philomom]

I agree with the Hick thing. I also want to point out to you that Basil has two different pronunciations. In the states we often say basil with a bay, long A sound. But if you were in England, its Basil with with a shorter a sound... as in bassoon.

Indigo is both a color and plant. So how about ....

Bay     (this is a tree)

Garnet  (color and a gemstone)

 Gray  (color)

Jet    (rock)

Sage  (herb)

[journeymom]

Basil is a sweet old fashioned name.  It's definitely a male name, think Basil Rathbone. It means 'king'. 

Just curious, would Basil be pronounced with a long A or short A?  Bah-sil or Bay-sil?

I like Kory as a nick name for Hickory, too.

Guess I'm no help! Lol!

[Hannahkatiebell]

In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Basil is a very popular name for boys. There is a St. Basil and several times a year we celebrate St. Basil's liturgy. I love it.

Hickory is lovely on it's own but the nickname is pretty bad.

[34me]

My dh's grandfather and uncle are Basil's.  His grandfather's nick name was Max - go figure :)

[Lisa1970]

Hmmm..my first thoughts when I read your post is that you must be hungry and are thinking along those lines. Then I realized you meant baby names.

There are so many good nature names. Basil makes me think of a snooty British guy on some BBC show. Hickory just really does not work either. Have you looked at Nameberry to get a lot more suggestions? They have a nature name list I think.

[journeymom]

Basil makes me think of a snooty British guy on some BBC show

Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers. 

[heatheresc]

Basil is a great name!  And Baz makes a cute nickname; goes well with Indie, IMHO!  Plus I think it would sound better with a one syllable C last name...

[calynde]

Of those two i prefer Basil!

Other tree/nature names:

Banyan (beautiful tree, cool name), Sequoiah (knew a guy in high school called this), Spruce (heard of little boy with this name recently...i think it's cute), Cypress (nickname Cy), Briar, Forrest.

I love these kinds of names.

[gingergrltea]

I adore the name Basil.Its very unique,and personally it sounds better then Hickory.I know someone who lives on a Hickory lane so thats what I think of.

[XanaduMama]

NEITHER! Sorry

[Cujobunny]

Yeah, I definitely prefer Basil, out of the 2. Especially pronounced BAH-sil.

Hickory may get called Hick, it also lends itself to be teased as Hickey in school :(

[mclisa]

Out of the two...I would chose Basil.

[Italiamom]

Basil makes me think of the book, "From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler," which was an absolute favorite book of mine.  I probably read it several dozen times in elementary school!  So I would choose Basil simply for the nod to a favorite book (and it also sounds beautiful).

You mentioned Baz...  If I had a child named Basil, I think nicknames would include "Basil Bil" "Silly Sil" and "Little B."

[tracymom1]

Originally Posted by journeymom 

Basil makes me think of a snooty British guy on some BBC show

Basil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers. 

This is the very first thing I thought of, too! I love that show, though, and think that Basil is a wonderful name. Classic and refined without being pretentious at all. Hickory is cute, but in a totally different way. More like an 'old southern' type of name.

[Thing1Thing2]

Definitely go with Basil! Awesome name and I like the english pronunciation of it.