Giving girls boys names?

"A schoolfriend was called Justine but even so she was constantly mistaken for a boy by people who didn't read her name closely and assumed she was a Justin (so her peg was in the boy's cloakroom)"

Her peg was in the boys' cloakrooom? Surely the school should wait until they MEET the children before deciding on the gender. Lots of unisex names (Alex, Sam, Chris etc or Sikh names) - you can't just assume a gender, can you?

I love Robin for a girl. Also love Patsy. My own name is definitely female but it looks foreign (it's Welsh) and a lot of folk assume I'm a man. I don't care, quite like it actually! Saw Corrie on here - REALLY like that. Might squirrel it away for later use...!

Generally speaking in my experience children really, really don't like gender qmbiguity!

My niece has a name that is usually associated with men. She is moderately well known in her academic field, and is very fed up with people assuming she is a man. She once got stranded at an airport in the middle of the night because the driver sent for her scanned the available passengers, saw no one who loooked to him like Dr x x, and assumed that "he" had missed the flight!

OP, no differences between men and women - really, the same, rather than equal? Ok, you are... well quite a particular sort of old-school feminist anyway.

There are some lovely unisex names if you want to revel in ambiguity - Rowan, Jocelyn um... lots of other ones!

I like names that are somewhat gender ambiguous. I like lots of soft names ending in -a for boys, and lots of shorter names ending in -er, -o etc. for girls.

I don't think it sends the right message to just give girls boys' names, though. I'd rather have something that was slightly less obviously gendered.

At the moment my favourite names are Asa and Hero.

My son has a unisex name. It has only once caused confusion and that was with a foreign agency. He really, really suits his name and loves it. I can't see any problem giving a child a unisex name.

You would have to accept that if you gave a name that wasn't unisex to a different sex then it would result in confusion and it would be you who had caused the confusion - not the confused party iykwim.

Did you know ALL traditionally sikh names are unisex?

Do tou remember that song
Goodbye Sam
Hello Samantha
Goodbye Joe
Hello Joanne ?
totally irrelevant I know.
Lots of unisex names around but not keen on 'A boy named Sue'[Johnny Cash] or the female equivalent.

I'm confused, you think non unisex names are sexist but you are glad you werent called Amelie because you aren't feminine. By your own logic, wouldn't it help if not all Amelies were really girly and some were boys?!

Purplebrigett- would you call your son Sylvia?

I met a Peter girl at hv group her mum was very snotty when people assumed she was a he, particuaraly when she always was in navy
No problem with it but don't be surprised when people assume wrong...

Just thought of another example. my grandfather was a Cornelius and was known as Corey, just like the Radio 4 female presenter Corrie Corfield, who presumably is a Cornelia.

A schoolfriend was called Justine but even so she was constantly mistaken for a boy by people who didn't read her name closely and assumed she was a Justin (so her peg was in the boy's cloakroom etc etc).

Personally I wouldn't as I think there are plenty of strong female names and also female names which can have unisex short forms without landing your child with a name which is completely ambiguous. I'm married to a Nick and have male and female friends in equal measure who I call Nick, ditto for Chris.

Interesting question. I think a lot of us assume that a person's name SHOULD indicate his or her gender.

Ha ha I wish Snow but not it's not. It could be who she's named after though- its an ex-colleagues daughter of about 5yo.

I blame the US for the 'trend' of turning all our lovely girls names into boys names and vice versa!!

My ds has a unisex name which has caused the occasional raised eyebrow depending on your persuasion

The 'surname as first name' type thing e.g. Madison, is easier to get away with for girls but I personally wouldn't call a girl James. Remember newborns are very ambiguous looking anyway!!

As a guy with a "girl's" name I don't have a problem with it, and wish people would not be so uptight about what gender each name is associated with.

In the US Finley is becoming more popular for girls. I think James can work because it is somewhat like Jamie, Jaime etc. Not sure about Toby though.

aah, sorry percy (is that your name??)

I can see what you mean, my 'shortened' version is only a girls name too so i didn't face that issue!

My experience is exactly the opposite - I was given a shortened version of a more conventional long name, and I have always disliked it. Furthermore, my name is a man's name in certain other countries and it's always embarrassed me because in that context it seems a bit butch.

hi mrs - i know this wasn't the point of the thread but i was given one of those names and it's annoyed me all my life as (to use your example) Charlie is my name, i've always been called it by everyone and that is who i think i am. However Charlotte is on my birth certificate, (because my parents didn't think charlie was a proper name). i have to always use charlotte in formal situations but it doesn't feel like me. It is a constant irritant.

The 2 things which really upset me have been that my degree certificate is made out to Charlotte, and I had to be married as Charlotte. I know it's on my birth certificate but I don't feel that is who i am. I am Charlie.

A separate issue i know but one you might want to think of.... It's nice to be called the name you'll be called IYSWIM!!

My thought is that I want to choose a long name, then as they grow up they can choose to be (for example, this name is ruled out due to family reasons) a girly or formal Charlotte, a "cool" Chaz or a boyish Charlie.

Likewise you can call Andrea Andy without her having to look boyish when she's 16 and as girly as anything.