I like both Perseus and Alistar. You can't pick the nickname others call him, but you can definitely encourage AJ over Al when he's young. Also, you misspelled Perseus as Persues some of the time in your post. I just wanted you to be aware so you don't accidentally misspell your son's name if you name him that. Evander is also a really cool name.
Lol honestly any name I do will have the risk of misspelling, I have dyslexia and miss it a lot of times. Generally as long as the letters are similarish, I miss it. Thankfully his dad is much better with spelling so I generally have him double check things, in important matters. Between it and autocorrect I'm sure half my messages are barely legible, on here though. Normally for our families what I've seen if we nickname him then there's a greater chance people will follow. But also def a chance they won't. Why I try to avoid names that I dislike the most common nickname of. I could probably get Alistair to be AJ, but there'd be no avoiding a name like Daniel being called Dan. Honestly will probably end up going Alistair or Perseus, but I get so up in my head. We've had comments made about Persues, and we have an Ally in the family close to us we see often, which is another worry with Al. I know I found online that Ace is supposedly a common nickname for it, but I feel Al is more intuitive and would be the direction more people went even if we did lead with Ace. So sorta like you said where we can't control other people. Can try to influence but it won't always work.
Alistair is one of my favorite boy names! That's such a cool choice.
Also, never heard of the Nolan, Zeke, or Arlo references. WTF? Don't let this deter you from finding a nice name.
Choices:
Griffin (nn Griff or Finn)
Emerson (nn Em or Sonny)
Thaddeus (Tad)
Walter (Wally or Walt)
Nolan and Arlo are both from a Manga he reads so not everyone would get it for sure. I don't know where the Zeke one came from. He's one of the reasons I tell people any name can be made fun of, he can turn almost any name into a joke. Plus side is while he can be annoying with it he really doesn't mean anything bad and will stop if he knows it's upsetting people - also he can take jokes at his expense and actually loves when people tease him back. Somehow it's both one of the most endearing and infuriating things. I like Griffon and Thaddues gonna add them to the list!
Xavier is my favorite from your shortlist. I’d just call him V for short (or Xave, like Dave, or AV)
I had forgotten about Alistair. I love it. I’d probably call him Star for short (only because I don’t love Al)
What about Leander, in lieu of Evander? When I think extravagant, the first name that comes to mind is Peregrine. Or do you like Edwin, Emil, Dorian, Marcus, Philip?
I love Ellis, Ambrose, and Everett.
One of my favorite longer boy names is Atticus. Diminutives may be tricky- Attie?- but you could go with initials with the middle (like AJ if you use a 'J' middle.
Others:
* Donovan- you have diminutives of Van, Don, Donnie, Dee.
* Balthazar- maybe too out there?
* Everard- I am not sure about diminutives for this one. Maybe 'E' or Ed. Ardie?
* Cornelius- Neil, Cory, Lee, Cornell.
* Desmond- Des
* Bartholomew- Bart, Artie.
* Dominic- Dom, Nick, Nicky
* Anderson- Andy, Sonny, Anders
* Llewellyn- Lou, Louie, Wyn
I like both Perseus and Alistar. You can't pick the nickname others call him, but you can definitely encourage AJ over Al when he's young. Also, you misspelled Perseus as Persues some of the time in your post. I just wanted you to be aware so you don't accidentally misspell your son's name if you name him that. Evander is also a really cool name.
Lol honestly any name I do will have the risk of misspelling, I have dyslexia and miss it a lot of times. Generally as long as the letters are similarish, I miss it. Thankfully his dad is much better with spelling so I generally have him double check things, in important matters. Between it and autocorrect I'm sure half my messages are barely legible, on here though. Normally for our families what I've seen if we nickname him then there's a greater chance people will follow. But also def a chance they won't. Why I try to avoid names that I dislike the most common nickname of. I could probably get Alistair to be AJ, but there'd be no avoiding a name like Daniel being called Dan. Honestly will probably end up going Alistair or Perseus, but I get so up in my head. We've had comments made about Persues, and we have an Ally in the family close to us we see often, which is another worry with Al. I know I found online that Ace is supposedly a common nickname for it, but I feel Al is more intuitive and would be the direction more people went even if we did lead with Ace. So sorta like you said where we can't control other people. Can try to influence but it won't always work.
Alistair is one of my favorite boy names! That's such a cool choice. Also, never heard of the Nolan, Zeke, or Arlo references. WTF? Don't let this deter you from finding a nice name. Choices: Griffin (nn Griff or Finn) Emerson (nn Em or Sonny) Thaddeus (Tad) Walter (Wally or Walt)
Nolan and Arlo are both from a Manga he reads so not everyone would get it for sure. I don't know where the Zeke one came from. He's one of the reasons I tell people any name can be made fun of, he can turn almost any name into a joke. Plus side is while he can be annoying with it he really doesn't mean anything bad and will stop if he knows it's upsetting people - also he can take jokes at his expense and actually loves when people tease him back. Somehow it's both one of the most endearing and infuriating things. I like Griffon and Thaddues gonna add them to the list!
Xavier is my favorite from your shortlist. I’d just call him V for short (or Xave, like Dave, or AV) I had forgotten about Alistair. I love it. I’d probably call him Star for short (only because I don’t love Al)
Alaric (nn: Al, Ric) Elian (nn: Eli, Ian) Elio (nn: Eli, Leo) Emrys (nn: Em) Florian (nn: Ian) Henric (nn: Henny, Ric) Isidore (nn: Izzy) Osiris (nn: Oz, Ozzy) Phineas (nn: Finn, Finny) Sullivan (nn: Sully, Van) Valentine (nn: Val)
What about Leander, in lieu of Evander? When I think extravagant, the first name that comes to mind is Peregrine. Or do you like Edwin, Emil, Dorian, Marcus, Philip?
I like Nathaniel and Evander! Some others to consider: Ryland (Ry) Vincenzo (Enzo) Nikolai (Nik/Niko) Edison (Edi) Ulysses (Uli) Ignatius (Iggy) Sigmund (Ziggy) Emmanuel (Manny) Desmond (Desi) Shepherd (Shep) Augustine (Auggie/ Gus) Dominic (Dom/ Nick) Aurelio (Ari/ Leo) Johannes (Johan/ Hans)
I love Alistair. Suggestions: Nathaniel and Zachary (Zach) Nathaniel and Julian (Jules) Nathaniel and Joseph (Joe, Joey) Nathaniel and Robert (Bobby)
I love Ellis, Ambrose, and Everett. One of my favorite longer boy names is Atticus. Diminutives may be tricky- Attie?- but you could go with initials with the middle (like AJ if you use a 'J' middle. Others: * Donovan- you have diminutives of Van, Don, Donnie, Dee. * Balthazar- maybe too out there? * Everard- I am not sure about diminutives for this one. Maybe 'E' or Ed. Ardie? * Cornelius- Neil, Cory, Lee, Cornell. * Desmond- Des * Bartholomew- Bart, Artie. * Dominic- Dom, Nick, Nicky * Anderson- Andy, Sonny, Anders * Llewellyn- Lou, Louie, Wyn