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Baby names

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Original poster

Middle name Clair for a boy

41 replies

fredandginger · 06/03/2012 10:13

Is this cruel?

It's a female family name, but would it be mean to use the masculine version as middle name for a boy?

It would be the second of two middle names...

What do you think?

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Snowysky20009 · 22/03/2018 09:53

OP's child would be about 4 now- bit late to decide lol

Joeybee · 21/03/2018 23:25

No, just no. You're giving your child a middle name he'll be awkward or embarrassed about. Despite the spelling, it's still the name Claire which is a common, fairly popular girls name.

BlackberryandNettle · 21/03/2018 21:54

It is a traditional boy's name but I think most people would see it as a girls name. The St Clair option is good.

MikeUniformMike · 13/03/2018 19:58

Sinclair would be an option. It is St Clair. I rather like it.

user1485182339 · 13/03/2018 10:39

Oh, zombie thread. D'oh.

user1485182339 · 13/03/2018 10:38

I think it is fine, fwiw. I'm obviously in the minority, but I don't see any issue with it at all.

harrietm87 · 13/03/2018 09:22

How did you even find the thread @MooseWhale - it's 6 years old!

MooseWhale · 12/03/2018 22:36

A close friend of mines middle name is Clair, and he's getting round just fine. HAD to say something, with no one else taking your side. Believe it or not he is actually Irish as well, he is very smart "bright", and no one has ever teased him. It was quite adorable, can't believe people are being such constant downers. Smile

HardCheese · 10/03/2012 23:44

MrsMonkfish, the Hardy character is Angel Clare, though, and 'Clare' is his surname. And men having Mary as a middle name wasn't that unusual for a certain generation of Irishmen - one of the 1916 Rising leaders was Joseph Mary Plunkett.

I have to say, though, despite being Irish, I have never come across an Irish male Clair at all - I certainly couldn't agree it's common!

mathanxiety · 09/03/2012 22:44

I think Clair would go down far better in Ireland than Clarence or StClair/Sinclair, which would be seen as quite foppish, English and a little bit on the poncey side. (But I don't know if OP is in Ireland).

bronze · 09/03/2012 21:19

St Clair / Sinclair might be better

Mrsmonkfish · 09/03/2012 21:18

2 things: first, Angel Clair is a man (Tess of the d'Urbervilles)
second, I know a manly man called John Joseph MARY (yes!!). Does it matter?no! he never tells anyone!! LOL

PercyFilth · 09/03/2012 19:51

I agree that Clair is certainly the masculine form, albeit seldom used. Gilbert O'Sullivan spelt it wrongly in his horrible whiny song, and must answer for this spelling variation being hijacked for females.

Wouldn't Clare be OK? It can be interpreted as both a surname and a placename.

grubbalo · 09/03/2012 19:36

Believe me shubie, when you have a middle name that you don't want people to know, you seem to need to divulge it a LOT!

belgo · 09/03/2012 18:55

I would go for Clarence instead of Clair.

mathanxiety · 09/03/2012 18:53

How about Lucien or Luke -- same meaning as Clair (or Clare which I have also heard in Ireland used as a boys' name though it is unusual). Though having said that, I don't think Clair as a second middle name is that bad.

Lots of my male relatives have the middle name Mary, and my grandfather was known as Mary (his mn) to all those close to him. He was "The Major' to everyone else. I went to college with someone whose name was Firstname Mary Thirdname Surname.

I used family names for exactly the reasons you want to, Fredandginger. Must be an Irish thing.

shubiedoo · 09/03/2012 18:39

It's a bit like Sydney/Sidney... more girls are called Sydney now, right? But originally a man's name!

shubiedoo · 09/03/2012 18:39

It was my grandfather's middle name (well, St Clair.) Very old name, nobody remembers the male version. And my daughter is Claire, but it's just coincidence, I had forgotten that until after we named her! Do whatever you want, nobody uses middle names that much.

Badgerina · 09/03/2012 18:32

No way. It may be a family name, but it's also a GIRL'S name!!!!

CecilyP · 07/03/2012 20:28

The difference is that Joyce as a girl's name was virtually unknown when Joyce Cary was born. It only really caught on in the 1920s, whereas Claire has already been a mega-popular girl's name.

RockinD · 07/03/2012 18:57

Joyce Cary's parents called him Joyce because their naming pattern called for him to have his mother's maiden name as his first name!

He appears to have survived and even made a bit of a name for himself as a novelist.

D

Original poster
fredandginger · 06/03/2012 19:30

OK, I promise I won't.

I don't have to use a family name themildmanneredjanitor, but my other DC does, so I would prefer them both to have one family name in there, that links them to other relatives - I think it's nice that so many of us share names, that's all.

It's not about naming him after someone in particular, it's about a sense of 'belonging' to my family as well as DH's via sharing a middle name... just personal choices I guess

Thanks for your input all; I swear I won't call him Clair!

OP posts:
Coconutty · 06/03/2012 18:38

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

DilysPrice · 06/03/2012 18:37

Seriously - given the choice between a name which is "too long" and one which looks like he's a girl, you have to go for Joseph (or whatever). It really really doesn't matter if he's called numpty numpty Joseph Fotherington-Smith and it doesn't fit your idea of good scansion, but it really does matter if the entire class is calling him Claire for a year.

Deux · 06/03/2012 18:28

I know a Scotsamn called Clair but it is an abrreviation of Sinclair. There are quite a few in his generation but none that I know of that are younger.