Mumsnet Talk

People!
For a boy's name should I be using 'Lee' or 'Leigh'? My middle name is Leigh (I'm a girl lol) my great grandfather was a 'Leigh' but a number of people have said that this is an exclusively female spelling of the name. I would prefer to use the longer spelling, but do not want to offer our poor yet to be born son a given in the bullying stakes n the playground...
Helps required

Thanklings xxx

Lee - I would assume a Leigh was a girl.

I think Leigh is an accepted male spelling - there was Leigh Bowery, but can't think of any others. Not madly keen on either to be honest, but if I were you I would go for Leigh. Elijah is lovely though.

Lee.

But Elijah Lee doesn't sound that great to my ear tbh.

I also know someong whose son's middle name is Leigh and he is in his thirties and appears to be well balanced and unscathed! Nobody pays too much attention to middle names anyway, and it is nice to honour family members.

Lee

I would use Leigh. A friend of mine (female) has the middle name Lee so both strike me as unisex.

I assumed Lee was the male version and Leigh the female, but from the above I guess anything goes!

Leigh is the old english spelling of the name (according to DH who is called this)

Leigh is better. lee sounds a bit Bruce Lee. The former is a much more traditional spelling. Love the combo, by the way

If you have a family reason for using it, then Leigh should be fine for a boy. As someone else said, it's an older English spelling and a place name in the NW of England where the name is reasonably common (surname, but I've known boys called it too). My preferred spelling personally is Lee, and for a first name I'd definitely say use that but for a middle name go with the family spelling of the name.

I know a boy (now approx 16) called Leigh and also a lady (30's) called Leigh so I would say its fine for either sex.

thanks peeps... we're going with 'Leigh'... eek.... one less thing to do on the list of many things to do lol

Can I just say that I love the name Elijah and would have used it if my bump was blue x

LOVE elijah too. was vito'd by hubby. adore the nickname eli too.

Leigh is for girls, IMO.

As a teacher I found Leigh to be exclusively female however it is also a surname and a place name [near Wigan].Lee was for boys and back in the 80's it struck fear into the hearts of many teachers along with Wayne,Darren and Dale

Meant to add-I love Elijah and middle name wont matter at all.

Lee = Boy
Leigh = girl