I had a similar experience. I had known since Highschool that my first daughter would be named Alexis (Lexi for short), so when it came time to choose baby names I told my husband that he had the final say on the boy's name since he had none in the girl's. He was very pickey about the names and rejected most of the names i liked out of hand, but he finally found one he loved, Israel. I loved the name too, but when family and friends heard it they either loved it or absolutly loathed it! unfortunatly more loathed it than loved it. it worked out well that we ended up with a Beautiful baby girl, but now that we have been considering having a second child, i am unsure if we should keep the name Israel for a boy or choose a new name.